The Little Fish
by shellwrx
Summary: Life in Beverly Hills is grand for the wealthy. To Bella Swan, it is a means to obtain the education she needs for her future. What happens when a new family moves to town and alters her priorities? Could she lose everything she's worked for? AU/AH
1. The Class of Beverly Hills

Disclaimer: _Twilight_ and all of its beautiful characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

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**Prologue**

My life had always been predictable. It may not have been especially exciting, but it was predictable. I had plans. My plans were simple, yet very precise, and I worked hard to stay on the set path that would ultimately deliver my goal. I needed a full ride scholarship to a four year university, my ultimate goal being the University of Southern California. I wanted to be a journalist—the kind of journalist that travels the world and tells the stories that matter—and USC was the school for that. It had been my goal for as long as I could remember. My high school career up to this point had been simple; I focused solely on the goal of obtaining the good grades that I knew I was capable of to stay on the planned path. The most key part of that plan was attending West Beverly High because it had the highest test scores in the Northern Los Angeles greater area. It was also the only public high school in the area that a serious university like USC stood up and took notice of. It was all part of the plan.

But I had deviated from the planned path, and let myself get distracted. I let some new friends and a few good times sidetrack me from my strict schedule of school, work, the newspaper and homework. Now I stood in our little kitchen holding an envelope that held the power to permanently alter my plans.

As I stood there staring blankly at my name—Ms. Isabella Swan—on the envelope. I suddenly realized with absolute clarity that all of my plans didn't matter. Not in the least. What I stood to lose was far greater than the dream college or the dream career. No, I couldn't leave West Beverly High, and not because of its status, but because for the first time in forever I was right where I belonged. I was no longer solely focused on striving towards my future like my life would begin then, at some faraway, abstract date. I was actually living in the here and now. I was truly enjoying my life. I had real friends and a real support system, not just Angela and Charlie, but a whole group of people that genuinely cared about me. But far greater than any of that was the realization that I could lose Edward. My Edward.

Could this all really be torn away from me? Could my new life fade away? My hands shook violently as I finally tore open the top of the seemingly inconspicuous white envelope. I smoothed out the folds of the single page letter inside and took a deep breath as I fought a losing battle against the tears welling up in my eyes. In the moment that the words came into focus I knew that yes, it could all disappear.

**Chapter 1  
****"The Class of Beverly Hills"**

"Bells! That's the third time I've heard you hit the sleep button on your alarm. Time to get a move on!"

I groaned as I rolled over and looked up at my dad, blinking the sleep out of my eyes.

"The alarm wouldn't have a sleep button if I wasn't supposed to use it," I croaked out in a throaty voice.

"That may be, but unless you want to be late for school because you sat in traffic all morning, you better get to moving. Plus, I already made the coffee." He winked at me, obviously proud of himself for conquering the big, bad coffee machine without my help this morning.

"Uh-huh. You just want me to get up and make you breakfast. I see how it is." I teased back.

"That too," he laughed.

I loved my dad. Charlie Swan was a good man. I knew that it had been just as hard for him to raise a daughter on his own as it was for me to grow up without a mother. He never complained, though. We were all each other had, and we never took it for granted. For as long as I could remember, Charlie got up at the crack of dawn to take care of whatever household items needed tending to. He always made sure I had a good breakfast—even if it was just toast or cereal—and that I got off to school on time. I tried to help out the best I could now that I was older and better understood just how much pressure he must have been under. It seemed he appreciated my recently developed abilities in the cooking department especially.

Charlie worked as a landscaper. The work was hard and laborious, but he was good at it and it paid the bills. Landscaping jobs were always plentiful in the Beverly Hills area, as everyone tried to keep up with the Joneses.

I went through my morning routine, showered and got dressed in a simple short sleeve, sapphire blue button down top and my favorite pair of jeans. I decided to wear my long, straight brown hair down and parted to side; no doubt I would end up with it twisted around a pencil by the end of the day, but it looked nice enough for now. I never wore a ton of makeup, and maybe that was a side effect of being raised without any female influence, or maybe it was just me. I was simple person when it came to fashion and beauty, so I elected to keep it effortless with some mascara and rosy lip gloss.

"What do you have going on today, Dad?" I asked, as I walked into the kitchen ready to make breakfast.

"Installing an outdoor fireplace over at the Newton's." I couldn't help myself as I started snickering.

"Well, just don't let Mrs. Newton get you alone again. That woman is a viper." Mrs. Newton was a well known Beverly Hills desperate housewife. Dad was too nice and too polite to put her in her place. The last time he had a job over there, she kept trying to encourage him to take his shirt off because he looked so 'hot' trimming the hedges. Poor guy had to practically push her off when she started fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt.

"Yeah, maybe I'll be lucky and she'll be out of the house getting one of those fancy manicures or something."

"Maybe."

We quickly ate our quick breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast together in companionable silence. As I was cleaning up the kitchen, Charlie began getting his things together to leave.

"Alright, Kiddo, I have to take off. You have a good day." He gave me a one armed hug goodbye, as my hands were fully immersed in the sink washing dishes.

"Bye, Daddy. I love you." Charlie slightly blushed as he always did at sentimental moments, but he hugged me a little tighter and gave me a sweet peck on the side of my head.

"Love you, too, Bells," he said softly.

"Good luck with Mrs. Newton." I hollered just as he was heading out the front door. I heard him laughing as he walked out to his truck. I watched him pull away in his white utility truck, towing his landscaping trailer, which proudly displayed his 'Swan Landscaping' logo on the side.

Once I finished cleaning up from breakfast, I gathered my belongings for school and headed out the door. I tossed my backpack into the old jalopy truck that my dad passed down to me when he got a new one for work. It was practically a tank and a god awful orange color, but I loved it. Plus it kept me safe from the crazy L.A. drivers during my commute. We lived in the Valley, and on a good day it was solid thirty minute drive for me to get to school. If there was an accident, it could take up to an hour. I planned ahead and usually ended up sitting in the school library until classes began.

Pulling into the parking lot of West Beverly High was like pulling into an alternate universe. Instead of your standard Honda Civics and Ford Mustangs that most teenagers drove, the lot was full of BMWs, Audis, and Mercedes, not to mention a hand full of exotic cars. I parked my truck in the farthest corner spot where no one else parked because the trees sometimes dropped sap.

I spotted Angela sitting on the front steps of the main school building with her boyfriend Ben wrapped around her. They were such a sweet couple; they never went overboard with PDA, but they were always holding onto each other and gazing at each other was such devotion. It was hard not to be in awe of their relationship. Most of the West Beverly student body seemed to thrive on playing coy games and starting unnecessary drama. Ben and Angela held their relationship above all of that. It was refreshing to see.

"Hi, guys," I said to alert them to my presence.

"Morning, Bella. Hey, did you hear that there is a new set of twins starting today in our class? A brother and sister, I think," Angela greeted me warmly.

"Nope. I'm sure they will be fully scrutinized by lunch though," I laughed.

"I hope they're nice. I heard they just moved here from the Midwest. People are nicer there, right?"

"Ang, I'm pretty sure people are nicer everywhere else," I laughed.

"Awe, come on Bells. You know you love us." I heard Jasper's low voice say from behind me.

"Hey, Jazz. You actually made it to school on time. What gives?" I teased.

"Got an early morning surf in. Best feeling in the world!"

"Mmm," was my brilliant reply, as the image of Jasper surfing in the soft light of the sunrise overtook my thoughts. Jasper was gorgeous. He had the classic California surfer vibe with his blonde hair, bright blue eyes, scruffy face, and crumpled clothes. It was impossible not to feel an attraction to him. But, I didn't date. Even if I did, Jasper wasn't really my type. He may have been insanely good looking, but he also didn't have a care in the world. He barely kept up a passing GPA in school and tended to party a little hard for my liking. He was a good friend though, and it didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes.

When the bell rang, we parted ways and headed into our respective classes. Angela and I had English together first. We walked together happily chatting away about nothing and everything. Angela had been my best friend since freshman year. We had been paired up as lab partners in biology class and have been inseparable ever since. She was a very down to earth kind of girl. While she did come from money—like most every other student here—she never made me feel uncomfortable for having less. Her family was great too. Her parents were loving and always welcoming of me. Angela's youngest brother was Autistic, and she selflessly helped out with him as much as she could. She took him to and from school and entertained him when her mother's time was occupied by the other children. Angela was definitely an exception to the rule around here, and I valued her friendship greatly.

The morning flew by for me as I went through my English and Calculus classes. My third class was Drama with Mr. Brody. As I walked into the theater, I took notice of a new girl talking animatedly with the teacher in front of the stage. This must have been one of the new twins that Angela had told me about. She was cute and tiny, talking a mile-a-minute with a smile so big I thought her face might crack. She was a couple inches shorter than me, had soft blue eyes, and dark hair cut in an attractive bob. Her clothes looked expensive, yet different from what everyone else around here wore. They were more unique and expressive. I took my seat in the third row back from the stage. I loved theater, but I preferred to not be pulled on the stage for every demonstration. The new girl made her way to a seat in the front row. Mr. Brody introduced her briefly as Alice Cullen and then began class per usual.

Halfway through the hour, we were asked to pair up and read lines together. Since my usual partner, Eric Yorkie, was missing from class, I walked up to Alice and offered to work with her.

"Hi, Bella. It's so nice to meet you. I just love drama. Don't you? Oh my god! The teacher is hot! I may need to sign up for some private lessons. So should we get started? Which part do you want to read?" I was stunned silent by Alice's quick rambling. I quickly tried to collect my thoughts as I attempted to come up with a response to her many questions.

"Um…yeah, Mr. Brody is definitely known around here as the hottie teacher. And, either role is fine with me. You pick."

We spent the rest of the hour reading and helping each other out. After Alice had calmed down a bit, I found that I really liked her. She was hyper as hell, but she was actually really sweet. She was just another girl trying to fit in. I understood that. If you didn't fit in with the right clique at West Beverly, they never let you forget it. I had far too much experience with that.

"I really had fun working with you today, Bella. I'm so glad we got paired up." Alice said as we gathered our belongings after the bell rang.

"Me too. So what class do you have next?" I asked as we walked together out into the crowded hallway.

"I have an art class. You?"

"I actually have a free period. I'm on the school paper and usually use the next hour to write and edit. My friend Angela has art this period, though. Come on, I'll introduce you." We walked together toward the art building. All the way there Alice blabbed on and on about handsome Mr. Brody. As we neared her classroom, Alice suddenly tugged on my arm and halted me.

"Who is that?" Alice whisper-yelled at me with wide eyes. I knew that look. It was the same reaction that every girl had to Jasper Whitlock. Sure enough, Angela was talking to Jasper right outside the classroom door.

"Come on." I pulled Alice, whose mouth was still gaping open, over to meet my friends.

"Hey, guys. Everyone this is Alice Cullen, she's in my drama class. Alice, these are my friends Angela"—Angela smiled and gave a tiny wave—"and this is Jasper." Jasper had the cutest smirk on his face as he extended his hand to Alice.

"Well, hello, pretty girl." Jasper took her hand and gently shook it while flashing her a brilliant smile and turning on the Whitlock charm. I noticed they hadn't taken their eyes off each other yet, and they were shaking hands a little longer than was really necessary. I cleared my throat and grinned at Jasper.

"Anyway, Alice has art class now, so I thought I would introduce you," I said, redirecting my attention to Angela. She also seemed very aware of the sparks flying between Jasper and Alice. I realized Alice hadn't said a word since we walked up. Gone was speed-talking Alice; instead, she looked suddenly shy and a bit nervous.

"Well, we should probably get inside, so the teacher can get you set up at a workstation," Angela said sweetly. Alice just nodded absently.

As the girls walked into the building, I couldn't help but rib Jasper a bit.

"Someone's got a crush," I sang out. Jasper didn't say a thing. He just stared at the door like he was willing her to come back out. Interesting. After a moment, he whirled around and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Before I could get away, he was messing up my hair.

"Stop, Jasper," I hollered through my laughter.

"I think I'm in love," he sighed dramatically, as I shoved him off of me.

"Well, it seems to be mutual. She was talking a mile-a-minute until she saw you. It's really not fair when you break out the Whitlock charm you know," I teased him.

"Don't hate on the natural sex appeal, Bells. I just give the ladies what they want."

"Whatever, Whitlock. Behave yourself. She seems like a nice girl. I don't have to tell you how rare those are around here. Don't go breaking her heart."

"Yes, ma'am!" He saluted me, walking away with a big grin on his face that clearly indicated that he had no intention of behaving at all.

I headed towards the small office we used for the school newspaper, _The Blaze_. I was the first junior to become editor of the paper. I worked with the Journalism teacher, Mr. Banner, during my free hour to make sure everything was running smoothly and on time. I was nothing if not efficient and driven by deadlines. Mr. Banner greeted me when I walked in and we immediately got down to business. We went over the various editorials and ideas we had for upcoming pieces. Together we assessed each of our writers' workloads and planned out their assignments for next month's paper. Since my free period was right before lunch, I often spent my lunch time hidden away in the office, working through until my actual Journalism class began the following hour. If Angela or Jasper were looking for me, they knew where to find me. I ate at my desk while I finalized an editorial I had been working on about teen drinking. Jasper would certainly get a kick out of it.

The rest of the day passed by in typical fashion. Mr. Banner and I delegated the new assignments in Journalism class for the next issue of _The Blaze_. I had a quiz in Anatomy and Physiology that was easy enough. In American History we watched a video on the Civil War, which put Jasper to sleep. It was probably for the best or he would have got me in trouble passing notes or finding other immature ways to distract me.

Finally, I walked into French class, my last class of the day. I noticed Lauren and Jessica huddled together, giggling like a couple of school girls in heat, which I supposed was exactly what they were. The entire female student body was in a tizzy over Alice's twin brother. I hadn't seen him yet, but after seeing Alice I could only imagine.

I avoided eye contact with both Lauren and Jessica at all costs. I had found that if I stayed invisible to them they made less of an effort to try and intimidate or harass me. They were stereotypical, superficial Beverly Hills heiresses. They didn't like me because I didn't wear designer labels, drive a fancy car, or feed their egos. They were also jealous of my friendship with Jasper. They may both bob his knob from time to time, but he would never actually hold a real conversation with either of them.

I took my assigned seat near the window on the opposite side of the room. This was my first year of French. It was definitely one of my more difficult classes, but two years of a foreign language were required for each of the universities I was applying to. I struggled with conjugating, where to put the accents, and gender nouns—the whole nine yards really. And forget actually speaking a lick of it. That was a whole other issue altogether. My enunciation was crap. I definitely did not _parle_ any _français_. I had to maintain a solid A in the class to keep up my GPA, and while it was a bit difficult, I actually really did want to learn it. After all, French was the language of love.

Madame Wand turned on her overhead projector and began lecturing immediately after the bell rang for class to begin. Not ten minutes later, the door to the classroom opened. I took advantage of the teacher's distraction to catch up on my notes. I was scribbling like a mad woman in my attempts to not miss anything. I heard Madame Wand talking quietly with a guy. I looked up as she turned him to face the class and began to introduce him.

"Bienvenue. Je m'appelle Madame Wand. Class, please say hello to our new student, Edward Cullen." In that moment, I swore my heart ceased to beat and my lungs stopped working. This was Edward Cullen? No wonder the rumors were flying, and the girls were in such a state.

"Bonjour," the class rang out in response. I heard Jessica and Lauren giggling. Why wouldn't they? Edward was gorgeous. He was wearing a black polo with the top couple of buttons opened and dark wash jeans. He was tall with a strong build, very masculine. His bronze hair was in perfect disarray. His eyes were light and shining. I couldn't make out the exact color, blue or green perhaps? It was hard to tell from the distance. He had a strong jaw with a little stubble just like Jasper. And his smile, gah! His tentative smile was so sweet I couldn't help but return it. It made his face read like an open book. I could tell he was just little uncomfortable and trying to politely take in all of the unnecessary attention.

"Edward, parlez-vous français?" Madame Wand asked, effectively drawing me out of inner admiration of the perfection standing before the class.

"Oui, un peu, Madame." When I heard him speak, I gasped. His voice was low and raspy. The sound I made was enough to alert him. His eyes locked on mine for a moment. His tentative smile morphed into a curious smirk until the giggling resumed. I looked over to Jessica and Lauren and realized my mistake instantly; I had drawn attention to myself. I felt my cheeks burn as looked down at my notes and tried to ignore the commotion around me.

"Fantastique! Your enunciation is perfect. You will have all of the girls of West Beverly swooning in no time. You may take the empty seat over by the window," Madame Wand instructed him. I felt Edward brush past me as he took his seat in the desk directly behind mine. My cheeks and neck burned even hotter at his close proximity.

A little part of me was jumping up and down because the gorgeous new guy with the sexy voice was sitting right behind me. Maybe I could get him to whisper sweet nothings in French in my ear for the rest of the semester. The rest of me, practical Bella, was pissed. This gorgeous guy was drawing unwarranted attention to me, and that could not be a good thing. I had never had such a strong reaction or intense attraction to someone before. Perhaps I could ask Madame Wand to move me; tell her I needed to sit up front to see the slides.

I didn't realize I had stewed about Edward Cullen for the remainder of the class until the bell rang, causing me to jump. So much for taking good notes today. I quickly gathered my things and headed towards the door without sparing a look in Edward's direction. As I started walking towards my locker, I heard the high pitched voices of Jessica and Lauren behind me.

"I know, right? Too funny. She, like, gasp-snorted or something when she saw him. It was awful! I would be so embarrassed if that was me." Angrily, I pulled open my locker and began to shove my books into my backpack.

"Like she even stands a chance with a guy like that. Did you see what she is wearing today? Does she shop at Wal-Mart, or what?" They continued to spew their condescending words as they shoved past me, well aware that I could hear them. I slammed my locker shut and turned quickly to leave; as I did so my bag flew open and my books spilled all over the floor. Anger, frustration, and humiliation welled up inside me. I blinked hard against the tears that were threatening my eyes. They didn't deserve to see me cry. I bent down to gather my books when I heard his melodic voice once again.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah. Fine."

"You sure?" I nodded not trusting my words again. I stayed focused on the task at hand. He knelt down beside me and picked up the remaining books and notes before they were trampled. We locked eyes as he handed them back to me.

"Here you go…" He left the statement open, clearly fishing for my name. All sense to respond had left me. I was speechless. Up close I could tell that his eyes were definitely green—the most beautiful moss green I had ever seen. He was even more striking this close and he smelled so good, too. I felt my cheeks flush once again with embarrassment. I dropped my gaze to my bag as I tried to compose myself and steady my voice.

"Um, thank you. You didn't have to do that. I really need to get going though. Um, bye." The words rushed out of me too quickly and pitchy. Further mortified by my needless rambling, I gave him a half wave as I quickly turned and practically sprinted towards the parking lot. I had to be at the library for my shift before long anyway.

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**French Translations:  
**Bienvenue. Je m'appelle Madame Wand.—Welcome. My name is Madame Wand.  
Bonjour! —Hello!  
Parlez-vous francais? —Do you speak French?  
Oui, un peu.—Yes, a little.  
Fantastique!—Fantastic!

**A/N:** Thank you for taking the time to read the first bit of my little story. I hope you enjoyed it! Any ideas on what inspired this? It's glaringly obvious to me, but I am curious to hear your thoughts.

A HUGE thank you to my friends, Hibbleton78 and Holly1980, who held my hands while I worked up the nerve to share this with all of you. Hibbleton78 beta'd the hell out of this for me and Holly1980 made me a beautiful banner. They're both full of awesomeness!

Shout out to my fellow 'Muselets' for all their support! *mwah*


	2. Unreal World

Stephenie Meyer owns _Twilight_ and all of its beautiful characters. This story is loosely inspired by plot lines from the original _Beverly Hills, 90210_ series, but I have taken many liberties with them. No infringement is intended to any franchise. The remainder is my original work.

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**Chapter 2  
**"**Unreal World"**

"And so life begins at West Beverly," I declared as my sister and I looked up at the ostentatious sign above the entry to the school. With just a quick look around, it was undeniable that West Beverly High would be nothing like our previous small high school of no more than a thousand students back in Minnesota. Where we came from, everyone knew each other and their business; it was both good and bad. We had left all of our lifelong friends behind in order for our dad to follow a tremendous opportunity out to sunny California. We had only been here a week—hardly settled into our new home—when we had to start classes. We couldn't afford to miss any more time away. So here we were, bright and early on a Monday morning, over halfway through our junior year and we knew absolutely no one. We were starting over.

Alice was wide-eyed, taking in our surroundings as we walked into the school's administration office. We waited for a moment behind a pretty blonde girl who seemed to be trying to get an absence excused. As she turned to leave, she blatantly looked me up and down with a flirtatious smile on her lips.

"I see the Edward fan club has followed us out to California," Alice snickered. I just rolled my eyes and ignored her jibe.

"Good morning. How can I help you?" an older woman asked from behind the front desk.

"Hi, I'm Edward Cullen. This is my sister, Alice. We're new here. We were told to come to the administration office to pick up our schedules," I explained.

"Ah yes, the twins, correct?"

"Yep, that's us," Alice replied. "We just moved here from Minnesota. I'm so excited to see the beach and enjoy year round mild weather. I hate the cold, and I definitely won't miss the snow at all."

"My, aren't you a cheery one. Okay, just give me a minute to go print out your class schedules," the woman said as she dismissed Alice and turned to head into the back of the office. Alice busied herself looking over the various pictures and posters stapled to a bulletin board by the door.

A moment later, the door to the administration office opened again and guy walked in. He appeared to be a student, yet he walked directly behind the desk.

"Morning, have you been helped?" he asked.

"Yes, a lady just went into the back to print out our schedules for us," I replied.

"You're new here." It wasn't a question. "Hi, I'm Ben," he said as he extended his hand to shake.

"Hi, Ben, I'm Edward, and that is my sister Alice," I said as I pointed in Alice's direction. At the mention of her name she spun around and smiled.

"Well, it's nice to meet you both. I'm sure Mrs. Cope will be back in just a minute with your schedules. What year are you?"

"We're both juniors. You?"

"Junior, also. I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm just here to pick up some stuff for my Journalism teacher. I'm an aide for him first period," Ben stated.

"Journalism? Does West Beverly have a school paper? I was on the paper at my old school." I was excited by the prospect of joining another newspaper.

"We do. I can mention your interest to Mr. Banner if you want. There may be room for one more," Ben offered. "Well, I've got to get going but I'll see you around."

"Later."

"Alright, here are your schedules. You will need to have each of your teachers sign off on your classes to be officially added," Mrs. Cope said as she returned to the front desk and handed us each our respective schedules. I looked mine over for all of a second before Alice ripped it out of my hand.

"Hey! We have Calculus together for sixth period. Thank god, because I am so going to need your help studying," Alice exclaimed.

Mrs. Cope gave us each a campus map and pointed us in the directions of our first classes. Alice had a science class here in the main building, while I had History in another building. I made my way to my classroom, managing to only get slightly lost on the way. The bell rang while we were still waiting to be helped in the administration office, so I knew I would be interrupting class. I opened the door as quietly as possible, but still had a good thirty pairs of eyes trained on me.

"Can I help you?" the teacher asked from the front of the room where she had been lecturing.

"Yes, I'm a new student," I stated as I approached her and handed her my schedule.

"Okay, Mr. Cullen, is it?" she asked while looking over my schedule. "Go ahead and take a seat. See me after class to get a copy of the course syllabus and the text."

I nodded and turned to search for an empty desk. There was a spot in the very front of the room and one towards the back. I opted for the one towards the back. As I sat down, I noticed that the same blonde girl I had just seen in the office was seated in the next row. She was slowly scratching the hair on the back of the head of guy in front of her. She smirked at me when she noticed me watching her, clearly amused that she had caught my attention. It almost seemed as if she was trying to flirt with me even though her behavior indicated she was with this other guy. I redirected my attention to the teacher and focused on the class.

When the bell rang, I gathered my things and walked up to the front to get the textbook and syllabus as requested. After catching up with the teacher, I made my way outside to head to my next class. The blonde girl and her guy friend were flirtatiously bantering just outside the door.

"Come on Rosie, you know you wanna," the guy mocked. He was huge for a high school student, taller than me and built like a Mack truck. The blonde just blew him a playful kiss and sauntered away. As she was about to turn the corner, she whirled around and winked at me. The guy noticed me then.

"Hey, dude. She's hot, huh?" he said while wriggling his eyebrows. Was he actually asking me if I thought his girl was hot?

"Uh, hi. Your girlfriend?" I asked.

"No, man. That beautiful specimen of a woman is Rosalie, and she's just a flirt. She seems to have noticed you, though. I'm Emmett, by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Edward." We shook hands and he practically crushed mine in his firm grip.

"Hey, do you think you can point me in the direction of English with Mr. Ruiz?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm headed that direction myself."

We talked on the way to English classroom. Emmett seemed like a genuinely cool guy. He was without a doubt an athlete and a bit of a meathead, but he was friendly and comical none the less.

"So listen, a bunch of us eat lunch together in the courtyard. You should join us. I can introduce you to some of the guys and point out all the hot chicks."

"Yeah, that would be cool. Thanks, man," I replied as I headed into my next class.

The rest of the morning passed in the same manner. In each class, I was either introduced or singled out as the new student. While I wasn't a shy person, I didn't particularly like the extra attention. Being the new guy was difficult enough without any added pressure.

I caught up with Alice briefly between second and third period. She was all smiles and seemed to be having a good morning so far. I passed along Emmett's invitation and told her to where to meet me.

When lunch finally rolled around, I made my way out to the courtyard. My mom had packed Alice and me lunches for today, not knowing what would be available at the school. I spotted Emmett immediately with a tray piled full of food.

"Hey, Cullen! Over here," he hollered at me as he flagged me over to a large, round, concrete table with an umbrella in the middle. The idea of eating lunch outside at school was new to me and extremely appealing. In Minnesota we always had cafeterias to eat indoors because the weather was unpredictable. The weather here was utterly gorgeous in the mid-seventies with a nice breeze. Perfect.

"Hi, Emmett. I invited my sister to join us too. I hope that's okay."

"It's cool. The more the merrier and all that," he said, gesturing with his arm to the oversized table. A few minutes later a couple other guys walked up. Emmett introduced them as some of his teammates from the water polo team. They all seemed like decent guys and your stereotypical jocks. I noticed Alice walking with Ben and a pretty brunette girl. I waved her over to the table. Alice was her giggly self as she approached with her new friends in tow.

"Hi, brother dear! How are classes so far?" she inquired in a chipper voice as she perched next to me on the bench.

"Pretty good. You seem to be having a good day," I smiled, happy that she appeared to be acclimating well.

"Alice, this is Emmett," I said, gesturing to him. "Emmett, this is my twin sister, Alice." She gave a cheery wave.

"Twins, huh? I'll be damned!" Emmett laughed. "How is that even possible? She's a good foot shorter than you."

"Haha, like we haven't heard that before," Alice retorted with a playful glare while Emmett continued to snicker.

"I have a theory that Alice's caffeine consumption has stunted her growth. Just wait until hyper-Alice comes out to play, and I'm sure you will agree," I joked.

Emmett's eyes widened in disbelief. "You mean this isn't hyper-Alice?"

"Nope, this is actually pretty calm for her," I said, laughing as Alice rolled her eyes and redirected the conversation away from her hyperactive tendencies and small stature.

"Oh, Edward, I want you to meet my new friends, too. This is Angela, and you already met her boyfriend, Ben. Angela is in art class with me."

"Hi, Angela. Ben." I nodded my hello to both of them. My sister spent the next few minutes regaling me with details of her drama and art classes, including that she thought her drama teacher was a real 'hottie.' Her words, not mine.

"Hey, Edward, I spoke to Mr. Banner and he seemed interested in another columnist for the school paper. He said to have you stop by his office sometime this afternoon if you're really interested, and he would see what he could do," Ben informed me while leaning around the girls to talk to me. He had an arm wrapped around Angela's shoulders and she looked up at him with such adoration as he spoke.

"Cool. Thanks a lot, man." He gave me the information I needed to hunt down Mr. Banner and hopefully get onto the paper.

"Speaking of the paper, where's Bella?" my sister asked Angela. Not knowing who they were referring to, I directed my attention back to Emmett.

"Dude, we should totally have a party this weekend so you can meet everyone," Emmett exclaimed. My eyes widened at the suggestion, not really sure that a party was called for, or that my parents would be okay with when we weren't even settled in yet.

"Who's having a party?" a sickeningly sweet voice inquired from behind me. I turned to see two girls—a blonde and a brunette—dressed in a way that could hardly be considered school appropriate. The blonde sauntered up and started rubbing Emmett's shoulders.

"Come on, Em, give us the deets," she crooned in what she thought was a seductive tone.

"We were just talking, girls. Nothing is set yet. Just trying to think of a way to get Edward and Alice here assimilated with the gang," Emmett replied as he ducked out from under her hands.

"Oh, good idea! Hi, Edward, I'm Lauren and this is Jessica," she said as she pulled her friend forward. Jessica batted her eyelashes at me as she said 'hi.' Alice started giggling next to me at their blatant attempts to flirt with Emmett and me. Luckily, Lauren and Jessica were distracted by another group of girls before I had to rebuff any further advances.

"Hey, Jazz! Come meet the newbies," Emmett yelled towards the end of lunch. A tall, blond guy walked up with a smirk on his face.

"Oh, I've met one of them already," he drawled out as he smiled in my sister's direction. "We meet again, pretty girl."

"Hi, Jasper," Alice responded with a shy smile on her face. I guess she found herself a California boy to crush on already.

"You must be the twin brother," he began as he turned to me. "I'm Jasper."

I introduced myself and shook his hand, probably a little harder than necessary, as I leveled him with a stare in an attempt to communicate that I wouldn't tolerate any bullshit when it came to my sister. He seemed to get the picture as he backed up a little and walked around to the other side of the Emmett.

"Yeah, man, Edward's already giving you some stiff competition with the ladies. You should have seen Jessica and Lauren falling all over themselves earlier. Not to mention Rosie this morning." I inwardly cringed at Emmett's good natured teasing about the female attention, but didn't say anything.

"So, we've been trying to think of way to get everyone together to meet and greet the newbies. You got any ideas?" Emmett asked Jasper, who was stealing glances at Alice. Not that she seemed to mind. She would look up and catch his eye, and then smile and turn to talk to Angela. Was my sister was playing coy?

"We could have a bonfire down at the beach," Jasper suggested.

"Oh my god! That is an awesome idea. We've never been to a beach bonfire before, and I've been dying to go to the beach since the minute we got here. Doesn't that sound like fun, Edward? Oh, we have to do that. Please?" my sister exclaimed while bouncing up and down in her seat and clapping her hands together. Most everyone exploded into hysterics over her outburst, while Jasper just chuckled at her and looked a little taken back.

"Whatever you want, pretty girl," he said as he flashed her another flirtatious smile.

"Yeah, that actually does sound like fun," I said a little loudly, trying to bring them out of their lust filled bubble.

"Cool! We'll work out the details and try to get something together for this weekend," Emmett replied. The bell rang then, indicating the end of lunch. The rest of the day progressed slowly. I noticed in each class that more and more students seemed aware of Alice and me. The gossip about the new twins had spread like wild fire, no doubt. We had Calculus together, but we weren't able to sit near each other. After that class, I snuck in a few minutes to go find Mr. Banner's office and speak to him about the newspaper.

"Come in," Mr. Banner called as I knocked on the door that was cracked open. "Can I help you?"

"Mr. Banner? I'm Edward Cullen. I spoke to Ben about a possible position on the school paper. He told me to stop by and speak to you this afternoon."

"Yes, Ben mentioned you this morning. He said you worked on the newspaper at your previous school."

"That's correct. I worked as the sports writer."

"Well, we do have a student that covers sports for us already, but if you would be willing to do a combination of sports articles along with some assigned editorials we could probably use your help." I nodded my reply with a smile, glad that I didn't have to give up writing with the move.

"I think that would be just fine," I said.

"Good. Here's my email address. Why don't you send me a couple samples of your writing tonight so I can look it over and get a feel for where you're at? We will go from there." He handed me a piece of paper with his information scribbled on it.

"Will do."

"You will also need to be enrolled in my journalism class during fifth period. I'll take care of getting your schedule adjusted after I review your work."

"Thank you, Sir," I said as I exited the office.

My next class was computer science. I saw Ben when I entered and was pleased to be seated next to him. I told him that my conversation with Mr. Banner had gone well and thanked him for his help. I really liked Ben; he was driven and dedicated, but also personable.

My last class of the day was French with Madame Wand. I was fairly confident in the basics of the language, so I didn't have any particular concerns with the class. I walked up to the teacher to have her sign off on my schedule. She introduced me to the class much the same as every other teacher had today, clearly enjoying putting me on the spot. She seemed a little eccentric, but I figured she would at least keep the course interesting.

"Edward, parlez-vous français?" Madame Wand asked.

"Oui, un peu, Madame," I answered. I heard a gasp come from someone in the room and looked up, trying to figure out what I had done to cause such a reaction. I noticed an attractive brunette on the far side of the room gaping at me. When I made eye contact with her, the rest of the room fell away. It was as if she was gazing directly into my soul. I felt pulled in like she had me under a spell. I was instantly intrigued. She had mahogany hair that was tied up with just a few stray pieces hanging down, framing her pretty face. Her cheeks were tinged pink with a slight blush, and her warm, brown eyes seemed to hide secrets I yearned to know.

I was brought out of my musing by the obnoxious giggling of two girls that I instantly recognized as Jessica and Lauren from lunch. When I looked back towards the brunette, she was focused intently back on her notebook. The teacher directed me to a seat right behind her. I gave myself and internal fist pump for my good fortune. As I walked to my assigned desk, I noticed the girl's knee was nervously bouncing and her face was turned away from me. She seemed really worked up, and I could still hear the other girls' harsh whispers from across the room. I had an inexplicable need to comfort this shy stranger in front of me.

I sat behind her with my stare fixed on the back of her head as she dutifully ignored my presence the rest of class. She had her hair twisted up with a pencil, and I had an irrational desire to tug it out so I could watch her hair cascade down the back of her shoulders. As I watched her stew, with her knee still bouncing and her pen frantically tapping her paper, I decided I would try to apologize at the end of class on behalf of the girls that had embarrassed her. My plan was foiled when she grabbed her books and bolted out of the room. I collected my belongings and packed up my backpack. When I headed out into the hall I heard the saccharine voices of Lauren and Jessica gossiping loudly about the incident with the shy girl. I was about to turn around and head in the other direction to avoid them when I spotted the same girl looking completely flustered as she tossed her books from a locker into her bag. She looked close to tears and I just couldn't stand by and watch while she let them get to her. I started to approach her as she spun around before getting her backpack zipped up; her bag spilled open and her books and notes went flying across the hall. I hurried over to help her before her items were trampled by other students in their rush to leave.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, keeping my voice soft trying to communicate that I meant her no harm. She looked terrified and angry at the same time.

"Yeah. Fine," she clipped.

"You sure?" I asked softly. I knelt down and gathered her books and papers for her. She gave a tentative nod as she continued to focus on gathering her things. She was intently avoiding my eyes, and I noticed she had tears welling in hers. I didn't want to upset her more, but I was at a loss at what to say to comfort her. She appeared so skittish and sad.

"Here you go…" I said, attempting to get her to at least tell me her name to break the ice.

"Um, thank you. You didn't have to do that. I really need to get going, though. Um, bye." I stood, dumbfounded, as she quickly rambled off a thank you and ran away from me without a second look. I felt horrible that she was so worked up, but completely confused about what had just taken place.

I sent Alice a text asking her to meet me at the car. In a haze, I walked out to the parking lot and leaned against the Volvo while I waited for my sister. I passed the time scrolling through texts I had received throughout the day from some of my friends back in Minnesota and came to one that suddenly overwhelmed me with a sense of loneliness.

**Not the same here without you. Miss you. xo**

"Hi, brother!" Alice called out as she approached me. The bright smile on her face faltered when she saw me. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just had a strange run in with this girl in my French class. I don't know. Everything is so different here. Just missing home I guess," I rambled. She eyed me for a minute. "It's not a big deal, really. It's just odd not knowing or understanding anyone when we grew up with the same friends our entire lives. You know?"

"So, a girl, huh?" Alice taunted.

"It's not like that, Alice, and you know it," I corrected. "Besides, she wouldn't even give me her name. I don't think I made a very good impression."

"I doubt that. Ever since lunch all I've heard about is Edward this and Edward that. It's ridiculous." I just shook my head and laughed with her as we climbed into the car.

"So…Jasper?" I inquired as we pulled up to our new house.

"Oh my god! He is hands down the hottest guy I have ever met. Did you know he surfs? A real California surfer boy," she gushed. Yes, she had found her first crush already.

"Oh yeah? Who told you that?"

"I grilled Angela and Bella for details. Oh! Maybe I can get him to give me lessons," she squealed. I just laughed at her enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I'm sure he would just love to have a reason to paw at you while you're wearing a bikini."

"Edward!" she scolded. "This is California, not Hawaii. You have to wear a wet suit in the water." I gaped at her for a moment before I burst into laughter. She definitely knew how to distract me from my gloom.

"Hi, kids," my mom greeted as we walked into the house still chuckling. "So tell me, how was the first day at West Beverly?" she asked as she pulled us each into a hug. We sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen drinking her homemade lemonade as we regaled her with the events of the day.

"That reminds me, I need to send a few writing samples off to the Journalism teacher. I may be able to get on the school newspaper," I said as I stood to leave.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you. My friend, Bella, is the editor for the paper. She's really cool and super smart. I think you'll like her, Edward," Alice stated.

"Cool. I really hope it works out. I hadn't even considered the possibility since the semester already began."

"Well, I'm proud of you for trying, honey. You have too much of a talent to let it go to waste," my mom praised.

"Thanks, Mom."

I was sitting on my bed reading through the various course syllabuses when Alice walked in and sat down next to me. She rested her head on my shoulder for a few moments before she spoke.

"So, have you talked to her yet?" she asked quietly—cryptically.

"Who?" I asked, already knowing who she was referring to. This was a topic I didn't want to broach again with Alice. I was clear on where she stood.

"Tanya," she replied.

"No, not yet. I'm suppose to call her at eight o'clock our time."

"Edward, I know you don't want to hurt her, but have you really thought this through? I mean, she's thousands of miles away. You deserve to have a life here," she reasoned.

"I can't just break her heart, Alice. She deserves better than that."

"What about what you deserve? Look, I just want you to be happy, and I don't think you will be as long as you're pining after her. You're too nice for your own good."

"I'm not pining. Besides, it's only a year and half until graduation. It's hard, but not impossible. I'm not going to just give up," I stated in a determined tone to make my point clear. Alice and I had already gone round and round on the topic of Tanya. She didn't seem to think we were a real fit, and she wanted me to be open to the possibility of new opportunities after the move. To me, it didn't seem fair to dump Tanya simply because my dad's job had moved us across the country. Tanya and I had been friends since grade school, and somewhere along the way that developed into something more. Deep in my heart, I knew it was unlikely to work out between us, but my mind was made up. You don't just throw away relationships because of something as trivial as location.

The next day at school, Mr. Banner told me that he'd added me to his fifth period Journalism class. I was excited to have the newspaper to occupy some of my time and keep some level of normalcy for me in the school day.

I ate lunch with the same group of friends. Alice and Jasper continued to make eyes at each other. Ben and Angela spent most of their time in their own romantic bubble, and Emmett entertained me with jokes and sports talk. Lauren and Jessica stopped by with a group of other girls for a few minutes, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from lashing out at them for the way they treated that poor girl yesterday. Not knowing their history with her or really even what had transpired yesterday, I refrained from speaking up. When the bell rang, Ben and I walked to Journalism together. Mr. Banner was already in the classroom when we arrived.

"Welcome to the _West Beverly Blaze_, Edward," Mr. Banner greeted me as I took in the classroom. There were a dozen or so desks in the middle of the room, a row of computers lining one wall, and two large work tables. Of course, this being Beverly Hills, I observed that the few students that were already in here had their own laptops set up and were furiously typing away.

"Thank you, sir," I said as I took the desk next to Ben. He handed me a previous issue of _The Blaze_ to look over while we waited for the class to begin.

"Afternoon," a beautiful voice sang from the doorway. "I finished the edits on Charlotte's column during lunch. Oh, and I also completed the teen drinking editorial last night." Standing in the doorway, shuffling through a pile of papers, was the shy brunette from my French class, only she wasn't the same girl at all. Instead of looking timid and embarrassed, this girl appeared confident and happy. She was breathtaking.

"Perfect timing. I want you to meet a new student that is joining the paper," Mr. Banner replied fully gaining the girl's attention. Her head whipped around as she surveyed the room. When she spotted me she appeared panicked for the briefest moment before she cleared her expression. "This is Edward Cullen. He was a sports writer at his previous school. I read some of his work, and it's quite good. He will be helping us cover sports, as well as picking up some of the odd editorials."

"Mmm," she hummed in response. I couldn't get a read on her.

"Edward, this is Bella Swan, our Editor," Mr. Banner introduced. This was Bella. The same Bella from my sister's drama class that she couldn't shut up about. The Bella that was close friends with Angela and Ben. The same girl who I swore looked straight into my soul only yesterday. I stood from the desk I was sitting at and approached her slowly, praying she wouldn't run from me again.

"Hi, Bella. It's nice to meet you—officially," I said softly as I extended my hand to her. I felt ridiculously nervous after the events of the previous day. I still didn't fully understand what had even happened. She locked her eyes on mine and seemed to sum up some courage as she firmly placed her small hand in my grasp.

"The pleasure is mine, Edward. Welcome to _The Blaze_," she said, smiling. Confident Bella was back. I returned her sweet smile with a shit-eating grin. _The Blaze_ was looking better and better by the second. Mr. Banner and Bella directed the class in a round table of ideas for the next issue of newspaper. I found it hard to concentrate as I got lost in Bella. Every time she looked at me, I felt like she was calling me to her. It was the strangest sensation and I wasn't sure what to make of it. The only thing I certain of was that I really wanted to get to know Bella Swan.

"I think that's a great idea. What do you say, Edward?" Bella asked me directly, pulling me from my thoughts. She had a knowing smirk playing on her lips indicating that she was well aware that I had no idea what she was talking about.

"I'm sorry. What were you saying?" I asked. Ben started chuckling under his breath beside me. When Bella shot him a look, he straightened up and grinned at her.

"Ben was just suggesting that you write an article about your experiences as a transfer student at West Beverly. I think it's a good idea. So, what do you say?"

"Oh, yeah. I guess that would be fine," I mumbled.

"Great. Have your first draft to me in a week," she said matter-of-factly.

"Yes, ma'am." I smirked at her. She was cute when she was putting me in my place.

I sat behind her again in French class. She smiled and said 'hi' as I walked in, but after that she focused her attention intently on the teacher and her note taking. I found myself once again focused on the pencil that she had twisted her hair up with. I noticed that the end was chewed up, probably a nervous habit. I wondered why she was nervous. I began to ponder when she had decided to put her hair up exactly. It was down during fifth period. We only had two other classes in between Journalism and French. I began to speculate about what other classes she might have. Then I began to wonder why I was even considering all of this about a girl I hardly knew. It was a dangerous train of thought.

The next two days passed in the same way. I never saw Bella at lunch, even though Angela and Ben were always with us. She was always friendly in Journalism class where she was clearly in her element. I was fascinated listening to her delegate and discuss topics that visibly interested her. During French she was always polite and quiet; studious, I suppose. By the end of the day on Thursday I had decided I really wanted to get to know her outside of the paper, if for no other reason than to quell my quick growing fascination with her.

"Hey, Bella," I called after her as she walked out to the parking lot after school. She stopped and waited for me.

"Hi. Everything okay with the article?" she asked.

"Yeah, the article is coming along fine. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about this weekend."

"Oh." She looked stunned for a moment but quickly recovered. "What about the weekend?"

"Well, you may have heard that a bunch of us are getting together for a bonfire at the beach on Saturday night. It's kind of a welcome to the neighborhood thing for Alice and me. It was Emmett and Jasper's idea."

"Yeah, Alice may have mentioned it. Why?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you were going to be there."

"Oh, I don't really think I was invited, Edward."

"What do you mean? And anyway, it's my party so I'm inviting you," I said confidently.

"Really?" She looked truly shocked that I wanted her there, which I didn't understand.

"Yes, really. Come, hang out, have fun. I can even pick you up if you would like."

"No! I mean, no, that's really not necessary. I'll come. I promise."

"Good." I smiled at her agreement.

"I have to get going. I have to be to work in twenty minutes," she said as she glanced at her watch.

"Well, have a good night at work then, Bella. See you tomorrow." As I walked over to the Volvo I found myself feeling lighter than I had all week, and then my cell phone buzzed with another text.

* * *

**A/N:** Hibbleton78 fixes my bad grammar, poor punctuation, and makes sure that I look presentable. Holly1980 pre-reads and keeps me focused on the big picture. They both supply me with visual inspiration in the form of surfer boy and Dylan McKay pics. For all of that and more, I owe them a colossal thank you.

Yes, this fic is loosely inspired by the original _90210_. Pretty much everyone that ventured a guess was correct. I promise that even if you didn't spend your Wednesday evenings glued to the TV ogling Dylan and Brandon, this is going to be a fun ride. I have been overwhelmed by the reception this story received after just one chapter. I hope Edward's POV was everything you wished it to be, well except for that pesky Tanya…

Let me know what you thought!


	3. Castles in the Sand

Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its beautiful characters. This story is loosely based off of plot lines from the original 90210 series. I have taken many liberties with them. The remainder is my original work.

* * *

**Chapter 3  
**"**Castles in the Sand"**

"Ang, I need your help!" I whisper-yelled into my cell phone, concealed in my covert position behind a large shelf of books in the back of the library.

"Bella? Is that you? Aren't you supposed to be at work right now? And why are you whispering?"

"Yes, it's me, and of course I'm at work. When do I ever miss work? That's why I'm whispering."

"Oh no, is something wrong? Did you get hurt? Do you need me to pick you up?" I could hear the panic increasing in Angela's voice. Of course she would assume the worst; I'd never been the type to make personal phone calls at work, after all.

"Ang!" I interrupted, I realized a bit too loudly, when I heard an annoyed 'shhh' come from a couple aisles over. "It's nothing like that. I just need to talk to you about something…personal."

"Okay, what's up?"

"I think Edward Cullen just asked me out," I revealed in a rush of words. My mind and heart had both been racing since the moment he'd called after me in the parking lot. I'd tried to keep my cool while speaking to him, but my thoughts were torn between trying to grasp why he was even asking me and pure delight at the very idea of spending time with him outside of school.

"What do you mean _you think_ he asked you out? He either did or he didn't," was Angela's very logical reply. This was why I needed her. I could picture her with her faced all scrunched up trying to decipher my pathetic ramblings.

"What I mean is he asked me to go to the beach bonfire this weekend, and then he offered to drive me. Is that a date? He never actually said the word so it's probably not, but I just keep getting this feeling when I'm around him. Oh, I don't know what to think," I whined.

"Oh, well I guess that could be considered a date. Listen, Bella, I can tell by the panicked tone in your voice that you're nervous, but you don't need to be. Edward seems like a nice guy, and anyway, there are going to be a ton of people at the bonfire, including Ben and me. Just take a deep breath and don't over think this. We'll figure it out together. I promise." Angela truly was the best friend a girl could ask for and I told her as much. We made plans for me to call her when I got off work to talk more. I knew she just wanted the opportunity to scrutinize, word for word, the exchange Edward and I had after school, and why I was so worked up about it.

To take my mind off Edward and this coming weekend, I busied myself with the monotonous task of shelving returned books. When I had completed all of the shelving—not that it was ever really done—I went back to the front desk to do some homework. I was fortunate that my boss, Carmen, didn't mind if I worked on homework as long as the library patrons had all been helped first. She said she would rather I use my time to further my education than mindlessly surf the web. I couldn't have agreed more. Overall, I enjoyed my job, and if I had to give up a few weeknights to work, at least this position afforded me some extra time to spend on my studies while earning a paycheck.

By the time nine o'clock rolled around and my shift was over, I had all but forgotten my nerves. Having calmed over the passing hours, I allowed myself to think through the afternoon's events with a rational mind for the duration of my drive home. I didn't date, and up until now I had never sought to. I had always told myself the reason was that I was far too busy with school and work to handle a relationship. To an extent that was true. The more I considered it, the more I realized that I had just never been interested in anyone before. Most high school boys fell into one of two categories for me: they were either good-looking with no real substance to draw me in, or they were smart and funny but didn't hold much physical attraction for me. I couldn't deny that my initial draw to Edward was purely physical, but I had since ascertained that he was also brilliant. He spoke fluent French in class, and his past articles that Mr. Banner had shared with me were impeccable. I had also discovered from Alice that he was enrolled in primarily advanced placement and honors courses, just like me. He was perfection and I was crushing on him—hard.

I'd had crushes before, but they were nothing like this. In the second grade there was a boy, James, who used to kiss me behind a giant oak tree during recess. I'd thought I was going to marry him until I saw him kissing Vicky behind that same tree one afternoon. I had pushed her off the swings later that day and was sent to the principal's office for the first time. More recently, I had found Jasper particularly eye-catching, and he was always fun to be around, but I had never wanted our friendship to advance beyond playful banter.

My feelings for Edward were different. I wasn't sure that a simple crush was even the right way to classify whatever this was. Not that I believed in love at first sight, per se, just that I had a strange feeling from the moment I'd locked eyes on Edward that he would become an intrinsic part of my life. It scared me a bit, how clearly I could imagine myself curled up next to him while we studied French together. Playful pecks stolen in _The Blaze_ office. Holding hands, laughing, touching, gazing into each other's eyes with complete adoration; I could envision it all.

I was getting way ahead of myself. We had only met two days ago, and we'd barely even spoken. Perhaps this all was foolish infatuation. I didn't even know for sure that he was interested; although, he did chase me down after school just to make sure that I was going to attend the bonfire.

A loud honk startled me from my rumination, alerting me that I was stopped at a green light. Minutes later I parked my oversized truck in front of our modest home.

"Dad, I'm home," I called out as I dumped my backpack in the entryway.

"Hey, kiddo, in here," he hollered from his spot in front of the television.

"How was your day?"

"Same old, same old. How 'bout you? How was school and work?"

"Fine." I eyed him for a moment before I decided to jump right in to what was on my mind. "Actually, I need to ask you something."

"What's up, Bells?" he questioned as he angled his body to face me.

"Well, there are a couple of new students at school, twins actually, and everyone is getting together for a beach bonfire on Saturday evening. So…would it be okay I go?" I was nervous and I couldn't figure out why. It wasn't like he was going to say no, but then again, I hadn't mentioned that one of the twins was a guy who had extended me a personal invitation.

"You want to go to a party? _You_?" Dad inquired with a skeptical look on his face.

"Yeah. They seem really nice, different from most of the kids at school. Besides, Angela and Ben will be there too," I justified. It was an unusual request, I'd admit. Like my father, I had avoided parties and social engagements like the plague. I felt out of my element pleading with him to let me go.

"Well, if that's what you want, that sounds fine. Just make sure you keep your cell on you the entire time, and stick with Angela."

"Sure, Dad, and thanks."

I called Angela as soon as I made it up to my bedroom. She gushed for five solid minutes about how I had my first real flame for a boy. After she stopped dreaming up my soon to be whirlwind romance with Edward and joined me back on planet Earth, we got into the important stuff.

"You're probably nervous because you haven't spent any real time with him outside of classes. The first thing you need to do is get your ass out of that stuffy newspaper office and join all of us for lunch tomorrow. You can't make friends if you're never around people, Bella."

"Ang, most of these people don't even like me," I griped.

"That's not true. They don't even know you enough to have an opinion about you. When they do, they won't be able to help but like you."

She had a point, which was how I found myself standing at the edge of the courtyard searching the student body for Angela and Alice. Instead, I was greeted with a warm arm slung around my shoulders.

"Well look who they let out of newspaper jail long enough to visit us commoners," Jasper teased as he directed me to the table where Angela and Alice were seated.

"It's not jail, Jazz."

"Are you sure, Bells? Because it seems like you're locked up in there an awful lot."

"Shut it. I'm here now." I gave him a playful nudge in the ribs as I sat down between the girls.

"Bella! I was starting to think you never eat," Alice jibed.

"I do eat. I swear. I just usually eat my lunch in _The Blaze_ office so I can work on edits."

"Well that's no way to enjoy your lunch break," a deep, smooth voice stated from the other side of the table. I looked up to see Edward smiling back at me. "Hi, Bella."

"Hi, Edward." I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth as I tried to control the grin that threatened to split my face. Edward took a seat next to Ben who had also joined us. I could feel the heat of his gaze still trained on me.

"So, Bells, Ang said you're going to join us at the bonfire after all," Jasper inquired.

Beside me, Alice gasped. "I thought you said you had plans already. Did you get out of them?"

"Oh, umm…I did, but…"

"I convinced her to come," Edward interrupted my sputtering with a smirk.

"No way! How come Edward always gets his way," Alice grumped.

"I'm sorry, Alice. He was just really hard to say no to." I kept my focus on Alice as I spoke to her, ignoring Edward's smug grin and Jasper's perceptive stare.

"Yeah, I know the feeling all too well. It's okay. I'm just so excited that you're coming," Alice voiced.

Angela glanced back and forth between Edward and me. She gave me a subtle calming smile, as Alice prattled on next to me, planning every aspect of the upcoming weekend.

"So there's beach access on the street next to Emmett's house. He said we can park there, and he'll have everything setup. I'll get you the address, unless you want to meet up at my house first and we can ride together. Edward can drive us," Alice rambled. I peered at Edward who seemed to be pleading to me with his eyes to take his sister up on her suggestion. He had offered to drive me yesterday as well. The offer still seemed to be standing, so I took that as a good sign.

"That sounds great, Alice."

"Do you want Edward to pick you up at your house, or—"

"No! I mean, I'll just meet you at your house if that's okay." I noticed Edward narrow his eyes at my refusal. This was the second time in as many conversations that I had vehemently declined having him pick me up. Could I be any more obvious? Looking for a distraction from my outburst, I asked the first thing that popped into my mind.

"So, what am I supposed to wear to a beach party anyway?"

Alice giggled, "A bikini of course." I felt my cheeks pink and my mouth drop open at her casual suggestion. There was no way I was showing up in a bikini to a coed party.

"Relax, Bella, you can just wear shorts and a cute top," Angela appeased.

"Ugh, I'm gonna have to go shopping. All my shorts are tattered from helping Charlie with odd jobs on the weekends," I groaned.

"Well, I would let you borrow something, but I'm much taller than you. Besides, I'm built like a stick, and you have an awesome rack," Angela reasoned matter-of-factly. Edward choked on his drink and went into a coughing fit at her statement. I just blinked at Angela for a moment before we both burst into a fit of laughter. I was stressing again, and she knew just how to bring me back.

"What are we giggling about over here?" Emmett McCarty walked up and plopped down on the bench next to Edward. Emmett was the captain of the football, water polo, and baseball teams. He had muscles upon muscles and a panty melting smile with dimples to boot. Everyone at West Beverly knew who he was, but I doubted he even knew I existed.

"We were just discussing Bella's lovely boobs," Alice replied with a menacing grin.

"Now that is a topic I could definitely get into," Emmett chuckled, and I flushed in response.

"So, Bella, you're like the queen bee at the paper that Eddie here joined, right?" he asked while slapping Edward on the shoulder.

"Yep, that's me, queen bee of _The Blaze_." I was stunned that he even knew I was on the paper, let alone the editor.

"Yeah, she's a real drill sergeant when she takes charge," Edward teased as he and Ben had a good laugh at my expense.

"I bet she is," Emmett agreed. I playfully rolled my eyes at all their ribbing, and Edward shot me a suggestive wink. I smiled back at him, happy that it was so easy to be around him in a casual environment. Out of the corner of my eye I caught Angela and Ben whispering in hushed tones and grinning like fools.

Lunch passed quickly with light conversation and few more laughs. Angela hugged me as we parted ways, whispering that she was happy for me and thought there was no doubt that Edward returned my interest. I had to duck my head to hide my telling smile as I headed off to Journalism with Edward and Ben.

Edward walked very close to me, and I could almost feel the heat of his body permeating through my clothes. Every once in a while, the back of his hand would lightly brush against my own causing tingles to shoot through my entire being. Like a perfect gentleman, I heard him say a quiet 'ladies first' as he opened the classroom door, ushering me in with his hand pressed gently on the shoulder strap of my backpack. I cursed my bag for obstructing his touch and fought against my body's desire to lean back into him so that his arm would be wrapped around me. It was all so very innocent, but his thoughtfulness overwhelmed me in a new and wonderful way. He couldn't possibly know the effect his simple actions had on me.

"Sit with me, Bella?" he asked with just a hint of shyness in his voice. "We can…um…go over what I have so far for the article. I mean, only if you want to." His nervousness threw me for a moment, until I considered that he may be experiencing the exact same thing I was. I took a cleansing breath before nodding my reply and attempting what I hoped was a comforting smile. Behind Edward, I saw Ben raise an eyebrow at me before he headed over to a computer chuckling and shaking his head.

Fridays were always free work days in Journalism. It gave everyone an opportunity to collaborate on finalizing pieces. I usually spent a few minutes with each student, ensuring that they and had everything they required to meet the set deadlines. Mr. Banner had always said the key to being a good editor was guaranteeing the individual success of every contributor. I took my position seriously.

Today, time slipped away from me as I listened to Edward go over the various points of his article. He paused for a moment as I twisted my hair up with my trusty red pencil. He gave me such an odd look that I thought perhaps he was disgusted by the idea of me wrapping my hair around a chewed up piece of wood. If it did bother him, he recovered quickly, clearing his throat and continuing on reviewing his outline. His idea for the article was so much more than I had expected. I couldn't wait to read his first draft come Monday.

"It sounds really great, Edward. I can't wait to see it complete. We need to get you set up with a photographer so you can work out the visuals for the article. How about Ben, since you guys seem to get along so well?"

"Yeah, that would be cool. I'm glad you like my ideas. I'll admit I was little nervous about what you would think." I couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Why? I think you've got real talent. We don't usually have students join the paper mid-year, but I'm pleased that you did." He blushed at my compliment, and it may have been the sweetest thing I had ever witnessed. I watched as he chewed his plump bottom lip for a moment before mumbling a charming 'thanks.' Before I knew it, class was over, and I hadn't spent time with any other students. I felt a twinge of guilt for allowing myself to get so wrapped up in a boy that I had abandoned my responsibilities as editor.

"What class do you have now?" Edward asked as we walked out of the room—together. I smiled to myself at that thought.

"I have Anatomy, you?" Edward's eyes widened for a moment at my answer, before they did a quick scan of my body. The thought should have ticked me off, but instead it made me feel triumphant.

He cleared his throat before replying, "I have Calculus with Alice."

"Oh, I have Calculus in the mornings. Today was just a review for the test next week. It's nice that you two have a class together."

"Yeah, it's great until she tries to cheat off of me," Edward laughed.

"Okay, well I'm this way," I said pointing over my shoulder, as we stood awkwardly in the hallway.

"I'll just see you in French then. Au revoir!" At that, my heart sputtered to a stop in my chest and then restarted at a furious speed. I didn't think I would ever get used to hearing him speak French. I just gave him a tentative wave and then turned quickly to hide my reaction. I heard a soft chuckle as he headed off in the opposite direction.

Our study of the reproductive system in Anatomy and Physiology did nothing to keep my lustful thoughts of Edward at bay. When the teacher dove into a lecture about how some male mammals dominate their female mates for hours at a time while mating, my mind immediately went to a perverted vision of Edward pinning me against a wall while his body did delicious things to mine. I broke into a cold sweat when the teacher called on me to answer a question, and for the first time ever, I hadn't a clue what he had asked.

In an attempt to redirect my thoughts, I even allowed Jasper to distract me with some note passing during History. It didn't work out so well when one of his notes was about the guys making plans to go surfing together the following weekend. Mental images of a wet Edward, Jasper, and Emmett were not so good for me at the moment. By the time I made it to French, I was already a hot mess.

"Bonjour la plus belle Bella." Of course, Edward had to go and make me swoon the moment I walked into class.

"Bonjour, uh…sorry, my French is really bad."

"Really? I figured you to be one of those people who was naturally brilliant at everything you tried."

"Oh, no. Not nearly."

"Hmm," he hummed in reply. I wasn't sure what to make of that.

I tried to focus my attention on Madame Wand as the class began. I was acutely aware of Edward's presence behind me. I was sure it was all in my head, but I thought I could feel the heat of his fixed stare on the back of my neck. After a while, I couldn't take it anymore. I tugged my pencil out of my hair and let it spill down my back to conceal my neck. I heard a sharp intake of breath behind me. I smiled covertly to myself, once again wondering if I had the same effect on him that he seemed to have on me.

After that, I managed to concentrate on the teacher and her lecture, until she asked Edward to read a line of a 19th century French poem. At the sound of his velvet voice uttering the first words, a small moan escaped my lips before I could contain it. It was so quiet that I didn't think anyone had actually heard me until I felt a gentle tug on the end of my hair.

"You okay up there?" Edward whispered. I could hear his amusement even in his hushed tone. I subtly nodded, not trusting myself to voice a reply.

After class was over, I turned in my seat to say a quick goodbye to Edward only to gasp at his close proximity. He had leaned all the way over his desk at the exact same moment that I turned, bringing our faces within two inches of each other. He glanced down at my lips at my gasp. The thought that he may be contemplating the same thing as me warmed me through and through. My entire body was buzzing with the desire to yank him closer to me, to feel his lips pressed against my own. When he looked back up into my eyes, he gave me his signature smirk as he slowly sat back in his seat.

"I was just going to say goodbye," he said, still smiling.

"Me too," I said, unable to hide my own grin.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow night then?"

"Yep, tomorrow."

"Good." At that we both gathered up our belongings and headed off. I couldn't wait for my date, non-date, whatever you call it, with Edward Cullen.

The next morning, I woke extra early to get a jump on my homework and some chores. After doing an inspection of my closet, I decided that I was going to have to go shopping in order to find something that I would feel comfortable and confident in tonight. I didn't like to dip into my personal account for anything beyond necessities, but there was no way I was going to ask my dad for money for clothes. He had much more important expenses to tend to.

In the early afternoon, I headed to the local thrift shop to see if I could score a lucky find and save myself a few bucks in the process. I was perusing a rack of shorts when I heard a squeal behind me. I whipped my head around to see Alice bouncing up and down with a huge grin on her face.

"Oh my god, Bella! Why didn't you tell me you were going shopping? I live and breathe shopping. Are you looking for vintage? I like to shop thrift stores for vintage ensembles that I can revamp and glam up." I was speechless. Part of me was mortified for being caught by a Beverly Hills elite in a thrift shop; the rest of me was just trying to process what she had said.

"Wait, did you just say that you make your own clothes?" I asked.

"Well, kind of. I don't make them, per se, but I like to find vintage pieces and rework them to fit my signature style. I add my own pizzazz, I guess."

"That's really cool, Alice," I praised. She had struck me as having a very unique fashion sense ever since our first meeting. I had never considered that it was because her clothing choices were like nothing I had ever seen in a store or on any of the other girls at school.

"Thanks. So what were you shopping for?" she inquired. I debated for a moment before I decided to just be honest.

"I need something to wear to the bonfire tonight. I wasn't kidding when I said I'd pretty much ruined all of my shorts, and most of my tops are for school and work, not really beach attire," I said, hoping she wouldn't laugh in my face. She was quiet for a moment before she grabbed my hand and smiled.

"Well, I'm sure we can find something amazing for you. Come on!"

Two hours later I had called my dad and let him know that I wouldn't be home until after the party. Alice had strong-armed me into going over to her house to get ready together. I had purchased a pair of shorts, but Alice had promised to assemble the rest of my outfit out of pieces that she already had. I felt a little guilty about borrowing clothes from her considering we had just met, but she seemed so delighted by the prospect that I couldn't find it in myself to say no.

We drove back to her house in my clunker of a truck. I found out that Alice didn't have her driver's license yet so she was dependent on her mom and Edward to cart her around. Her mom had dropped her off on her way to a hair appointment, and she had planned on calling Edward to pick her up when she was ready. Apparently, shopping for vintage treasures could be an all day event in the life of Alice.

The Cullen house was beautiful. It was a classic Spanish style Californian dream home. Before I had even entered, I vowed to never let Alice or Edward see my tiny house. It seemed like a cracker box in comparison to this mansion. The inside was even more gorgeous complete with wrought iron railings, Spanish tiles, impossibly high ceilings, and large wooden framed windows that let a tremendous amount of light in. There were still a few boxes scattered here and there, as well as artwork resting against walls waiting to be hung, indicating the recent arrival of the new residents.

"Alice, this place is spectacular," I gushed.

"Thanks. I like it. It's a lot different from our last house, feels so warm and open."

"I'll say."

"Come on. I'll show you my room." We lugged our bags—well, my one bag and Alice's many—up the stairs and down the hall to a room with a double door entrance.

"Whoa, is this your bedroom!" I crowed, sounding every bit as shocked as I was.

"No, silly, this is the study. I just wanted to see if Edward is home. He spends most of his free time in here." She opened the door to a huge room with floor to ceiling bookshelves, a cozy seating area, and a beautiful baby grand piano. Thankfully the room was empty. I wasn't quite ready to see Edward yet. I wanted Alice to have a chance to work her magic first, hoping beyond hope that the next time I saw Edward Cullen and swooned—as I was destined to do—perhaps he would swoon a bit too.

We entered Alice's room through a regular single door at the opposite end of the hallway. Her room was beautifully appointed in tints of baby pink and shades of chocolate brown. She had a queen size four-poster bed with a matching armoire, dresser, and desk. She dumped all of the bags out on her bed and began rifling through her purchases.

"Oh, I have the best idea for you, but first we should do manis and pedis," Alice exclaimed. I smiled at her excitement and willingly subjected myself to the female torture. I'd overheard the girls at school discuss their personal beauty regimens all the time. I tried to look presentable myself, but the fact of the matter was I didn't have a clue what I was doing when it came to this stuff. Without having to go into much detail, I told Alice that my mom wasn't really in the picture, and I hadn't had any real female influence in my life beyond Angela. Alice was only too happy to show me the ways of womanhood.

A while later, our nails were painted and my hair was up in curlers when a lovely woman with caramel colored hair and Edward's jade eyes entered the room.

"Hi, Mom, the new haircut looks great!" Alice greeted.

"Thanks, honey. Who do we have here?" she asked, gesturing to me.

"Oh, this is my friend, Bella. We're going to the bonfire together tonight."

"Oh, Bella! It's so nice to finally meet you. My kids have had nothing but wonderful things to say about you." I blushed when I caught the plural, kids, in her statement.

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Cullen. You have a lovely home," I replied.

"It's just Esme, dear, and thank you. I still have a lot of work to do around here, but I do love it."

"Well, I'll let you girls get back to your pampering. I just wanted to let you know I was home and that dinner will be ready in about an hour if you're hungry."

"Your mom is really nice," I said after Esme had left the room.

"Yeah, she's the best," Alice said confidently.

We finished with our primping a while later and had joined Esme downstairs for a quick bite. Alice had pulled my hair back away from my face with a few pins, but let it spill down my back in a cascade of curls. She had kept my makeup simple since we were going to the beach, slicking my eyelashes with mascara and adding a fine line of eyeliner to make my eyes snap. She lightly dabbed my lips with a cherry colored lip gloss and called it good. I felt fresh and beautiful.

Alice, on the other hand, was a knockout. She had straightened her short, dark hair, flipping it up slightly at the ends. Her face practically glowed with her shimmering, ethereal makeup. Jasper was going to jizz in his shorts when he saw her.

"Alice, I don't know about this. I've never worn anything this revealing before," I worried as Alice thrust her chosen attire at me. She had selected a sapphire blue bikini top for me to wear under a sheer, white, short-sleeve blouse paired with the dark washed denim shorts that I had bought. I was very skeptical.

"It's a beach party, Bella. Most of the girls there will hardly be wearing any clothes at all. You're going to look very modest compared to them," Alice reasoned. She probably had a point, but it did little to ease my discomfort.

I changed in Alice's bathroom, and when I emerged, Edward was seated on the bed next to her. He didn't notice me at first, as he continued to chat along with his sister; however, when Alice saw me she let out a squeal that alerted everyone within a one mile radius of my presence.

"You look awesome!" She danced over to me, fiddling with my collar and undoing the top couple buttons of the blouse. I wanted to wrap my arms around myself in an attempt to conceal as much skin as possible, but Alice was having none of it. I knew I wouldn't win this battle, especially with Edward here to witness. When I looked over at him, he was staring at me slack jawed. Suddenly, Alice's selection of ensembles didn't seem like a bad idea after all.

"What do you think, Edward?" Alice asked. When she glanced at him, she did a double take before she narrowed her eyes at him. He straightened up in an instant as they had some silent communication. It must have been a twin thing.

"You look nice, Bella," he answered in a formal tone without looking at me. 'Nice' wasn't exactly the adjective I was hoping for. I felt like I was missing something key between Alice and Edward. Alice looked directly in my eyes, as if she was attempting to read my thoughts. I became very uncomfortable under her scrutiny. I wasn't sure if I was ready to reveal my interest in her brother to her just yet. I really liked Alice. I didn't want to risk our newfound friendship in case she thought I was just using her to get to her brother. Alice's face softened after a moment, and she quietly excused herself to go change.

When I looked back at Edward, he almost appeared sad, lost in his own thoughts. I wanted to ask him what was going on, but something inside me made me hold my tongue. Subconsciously, I think I knew I wouldn't like the answer. He stood and awkwardly approached me. He still wouldn't look me in the eye, indicating that something was indeed wrong. I didn't say anything as I waited for him to speak.

"Um, I should probably go get ready myself. Just tell Alice that I'll wait for you downstairs," he said quietly before he turned and exited the room without any further explanation for his suddenly cool behavior.

Alice returned dressed in a tiny denim skirt and the most unique halter top I had ever seen. It was lacy and feminine, in a dark amethyst purple. It was striking against her delicate, pale skin. Her friendly smile was back in full force, and I relaxed a bit. Perhaps I had misread the situation entirely. I relayed Edward's message and after we each slipped on a pair of flip flops—mine blue and hers purple—we headed downstairs to get the party started.

Edward was waiting in the living room wearing white and blue plaid board shorts and a light blue tee. He gave a small smile when he saw us and asked if we were ready to go. We piled into his car, and Alice filled what would have been an awkward silence with mindless jabbering during the short drive. I was beginning to second guess my decision to attend the party at all when Edward pulled into a parking spot on the side of a beautiful palm tree lined street.

Alice directed us toward the sound of music blaring from the beach. Sure enough, Emmett and a bunch of his friends were already drinking and dancing around in the white sand. I heard someone call out my name and looked around to find Angela running towards me.

"Bella, Edward, you two came!" I didn't miss that she addressed the two of us as if we were a couple. I gave her a fake smile that I knew she would pick up on, trying to convey that something was amiss. She looked puzzled for a moment before she continued, "Wow, Bella, you look smoking girl. Don't you think Edward?" I wanted to weep at her antics. I really didn't want to hear Edward say I looked nice again. I wanted him to tell me I was _'la plus belle'_ or even just pretty.

Instead of answering Angela, Edward just nodded as turned to me and said, "I think I'm going to go find Emmett. I'll catch up with you later." I tried to smile in response, but I knew it was a sad attempt. As soon as Edward was out of ear shot Angela started in.

"What happened, Bella? He seemed so into you yesterday, and now…" She gestured wildly after him and I just frowned, knowing what she was thinking; now he couldn't get away from me quick enough.

"I honestly don't know, Ang. I think I misread his intent in inviting me here though. He's hardly spoken to me at all. Maybe he just wanted me to be here for his sister."

"Well, you're already here, so let's just make a girls' night of it and ignore the boys. We can still have fun, Bella."

"Yeah, okay. I know you're not actually capable of ignoring Ben all night though," I teased and playfully bumped her with my shoulder.

"Sure I am. Besides, he thought Edward liked you too. He's a guy, he should know these things," she stated. I just laughed at her determination, knowing full well that she would be wrapped in his arms before the night was over. The two of them were like magnets.

We walked over to join the party. The two of us sat on a log in front of the small fire next to Alice who was making nice with some other party goers. She grinned in relief when she saw us. The three of us happily chatted about anything and everything. I debated asking Alice what was going on with her brother, but chose to just enjoy the time with my girlfriends instead. We talked the night away as we watched the golden sun slowly set over the Pacific. It was actually quite beautiful out. There was a cool breeze coming in off the water, but the air was still warm from the sunny day.

Thankfully, someone finally killed the Top 40 music that had been blaring all night. I smiled when I heard the soft strumming of a guitar start up instead, already knowing who was playing it. Beside me, Alice started vibrating. I smirked and decided then and there that even though romance may not be happening for me tonight, I could certainly help out a couple of my friends.

"Hey, Alice, do you have a thing for Jasper?" I asked point blank. Angela giggled next to me.

"Am I that obvious?" Alice worried. I laughed at her uncertainty.

"No more than he is." She looked at me with wide eyes as she processed what I had said.

"You mean, you think he might…"

"Yes, I do! Come on." I grabbed both her and Angela's hands and pulled them over to where Jasper was sitting in the warm sand, playing his guitar.

"Hey, Jazz," I greeted as I plopped down next to him.

"Holy hell, woman! Who are you, and what did you do to Bella?" he exclaimed as he took in my appearance. Why couldn't Edward have reacted more like that? I pushed that thought out of my head as quickly as it came.

"Oh, this was all Alice. She has a hidden talent. Did you know she makes her own clothes out of vintage finds? She's a fashion genius." At the mention of her name, Jasper looked up to find Alice standing directly in front of the setting sun. In that moment, she looked like a goddess, and I could tell by the look in Jasper's eyes that he thought so too.

"Well, hello there, pretty girl."

"Hi," she said as she kneeled down in the sand in front of him like she was his personal groupie. I suppose she was.

"Any request ladies?" Jasper asked in general, although, it was clear his intent was to please Alice.

"Oh, you know what we want to hear, Jazz," Angela hinted as she sat down next to me. He smirked at her as he began to play the opening chords of "Wonderwall." I closed my eyes and soaked in the moment of just being with my closest friends while Jasper strummed and softly crooned a beautiful acoustic rendition of one of my favorite songs.

"_Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you_

_By now you shoulda, somehow, realized what you gotta do_

_I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now…"_

When I opened my eyes, Alice and Jasper were gazing at each other with equal looks of fascination. Angela and I were wearing our own matching grins at our friends' happiness. I also noticed that Jasper had drawn quite a crowd, which of course included none other than Lauren and Jessica who were standing right behind me. I heard them whispering back and forth to each other. I glanced back at them, but quickly turned to disguise my laughter. They were both clad in tiny bikinis and it looked like Lauren was actually wearing stilettos in the sand. She had a death grip on Jessica's arm to keep herself upright while chugging her beer with her other hand.

"At least Jasper's still single. I'm totally going home with him tonight," one of them claimed. Over my dead body, I thought.

"I can't believe Edward has a girlfriend. That blows! He's so fuckin' hot!" I swallowed hard as I listened to them. I looked at Angela to gauge whether she had heard them as well. The sad, sympathetic look in her eyes indicated yes. How could he have a girlfriend already? He'd been here all of a week. In retrospect, it made perfect sense and explained his sudden change in behavior. What was once harmless flirting could now be considered borderline cheating if he had a girlfriend. These were the high school games that I had always tried to avoid. I was becoming quickly angered at Edward for leading me on, but mostly at myself for falling into this immature trap.

I scanned the crowd in search of Edward and found him with Rosalie Hale draping herself on his arm. I cringed at my foolishness. Edward was so far out of my league it wasn't even funny. Rosalie Hale was Beverly Hills royalty and a model to boot. They were so perfect together; I couldn't even stomach to look at them.

I allowed myself a moment of self-pity as I gazed into the fire. Tongues of yellow, orange, and red tangled together in a sensual dance. Opening myself up to feel my emotions, a sense of hopelessness consumed me as I experienced the sting of unrequited love for the first time. I had never let myself become interested in a boy before so the sensation was new and raw. I didn't like it one bit.

Tamping the emotions down, I attempted to clear my head and permit 'rational Bella' a moment to think through the situation objectively. I was the editor of the paper, Edward's editor, and he had proved that he at least wanted to be my friend, even if I had run with the thought and deluded myself into thinking he was asking me here as a date. He had only invited me to get to know me, so surely a good friendship was possible. If Edward had a girlfriend it meant that he was off-limits to me on a romantic level. I really didn't have time for a full blown relationship anyway. My head could take this tidbit of information and use it to keep my heart in check. He sought to be my friend, and I could do 'friends.'

As Jasper transitioned to another song, Angela asked me if I was okay. I nodded mutely as Alice moved to sit closer to us picking up on my distress.

"Hey what's going on? You were so happy earlier and now you just look sad," she inquired with sincere concern. I looked to Angela for a moment, before I decide to just tell Alice what had transpired. I trusted her and didn't want to lie to her.

"I…I, uh…didn't realize that your brother had a girlfriend," I confessed, knowing she would get the full implication from my simple statement.

"Oh," she looked at me with the same sympathy that Angela had before searching out Edward with her eyes. She gasped when she found him. "Oh, Bella, it's not what you think. He does technically have a girlfriend, but she's back in Minnesota. He's not with Rosalie."

"Wait, what?" I looked back at Edward, and with this new information I could tell that he appeared quite uncomfortable trying to squirm out of Rosalie's grasp.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't realize that you liked him. I would have said something, I swear," Alice apologized.

"Stop, Alice. It's not your fault. It was all just a big misunderstanding."

"I'm not so sure it was. Did he say something to you? To make you think he may be interested, I mean. I only ask because the way he was looking at you earlier, I thought for a moment that maybe something was already going on."

"No, he didn't say anything," I said before I quickly amended, "well, except when he invited me to the bonfire. I was kind of under the impression that he wanted to spend the evening with me, like a date." She nodded, but didn't say anything further. I was resolved to drop the subject and try to forget my feelings for Edward. Alice and Angela both laid their heads on my shoulders while we listened to the melodious sounds of Jasper's guitar continue to strum each of our requests.

A sense of overwhelming warmth filled me, and it wasn't coming from the bonfire. I glanced to my left and saw Edward, now seated on the other side of Jasper, staring at me with a dazed look in his eyes. The heat of his stare brought back all my wishful thinking of something more between us. His eyes widened as he came out of his stupor and realized that I was staring back at him. He smiled the first sincere smile I had seen from him all day. I could do nothing but return it. He glanced at Alice, whose face I couldn't see, but they seemed to be having another one of their silent twin conversations, because he nodded minutely to her before peering back at me.

"I'm going to run to the bathroom," I told the girls. They both offered to come with me, but I declined; I needed a minute alone to compose my thoughts. Edward watched as I stood and walked towards the public restrooms.

I ran into none other than a drunk Lauren and Jessica as I was leaving the restroom.

"Oh my god, Bella Swan, is that you? What are you even doing here?" Jessica spat.

"I asked her to come," Edward said from behind her. She spun around and practically fell into Lauren, who looked like she was seconds away from getting sick. Edward ignored both of them as he approached me.

"Take a walk with me?" he asked softly. I nodded and fell in step with him, leaving Jess and Lauren to their drunken debauchery.

We walked in silence for a few minutes before he stopped and turned to face the rolling waves. The party had quieted with the distance, and I welcomed the peace of the crashing tide.

"I apologize if I came across as rude today. I really want to be your friend. I feel drawn to you in a way that I don't entirely understand. It's just…I have some things that I still need to work out with the move. It all happened so sudden. I'm sorry if I took it out on you. It wasn't intentional."

I turned from ocean to look him in the eye as I said, "Apology accepted."

"Good. I'm pretty sure Alice is still going to kick my ass, but that's my problem."

"I'll tell her to go easy on you," I laughed.

"So, Bella, what do you like to do for fun at the beach?"

"Um, honestly, I don't get to come to the beach very often. But, when I was younger my dad and I used to build huge sand castles every summer." Edward grinned at me before plopping down in the sand, tugging me down with him.

"Okay, show me what to do."

"Well, first we need wet sand. This soft stuff won't stick together. Technically, we should have shovels and buckets too, but I think we can make do with our hands." I scooted forward on my butt to where I could reach the wet sand and Edward followed me in the same motion.

"You know both of our asses are going to be covered in sand now," he said. I just laughed and told him to get busy packing the sand. We worked together building a good sized sand castle complete with a moat to catch water from the waves with only the moonlight to guide us. When we were done we both sat back and admired our handy work. It wasn't too bad considering our limited resources.

Time got away from us once again was talked about school, the paper, and our tentative plans for college. We didn't discuss anything too serious, keeping the conversation light and friendly. We both got a good chuckle out of Lauren's choice to wear high heels on the beach. Apparently, she had knocked a beer out of Emmett's hand when she stumbled in her attempt to flirt with him. The beer spilled down the front of Jessica. That somewhat explained why they both smelled like a brewery.

His eyes sparkled in the moonlight as he retold the story, and his laugh was one of the most beautiful sounds in my world. I found myself falling under his spell once again. We both became quiet as the moment became tense with the energy that always seemed to be present between us. I looked at him, imploring with my eyes for him to say something to ease the tension. What he said instead, was not at all what I expected.

"Tu as de très beaux yeux," he said looking into my eyes, unleashing the power of his French on me yet again. He reached up and traced a finger down my cheek, holding my gaze as he translated, "You have very beautiful eyes." I felt my eyes, which he had so sweetly complimented, start to mist as the rollercoaster of emotions from the evening started to overtake me.

"You have a girlfriend," I choked out after a moment. His hand dropped as if I had struck him with my words.

"Yes." He swallowed hard before continuing, "Bella, I didn't mean…I wasn't trying to lead you on or anything."

"Oh, of course not. I'm sorry." The only thing worse than him leading me on while still with his girlfriend was that I had just made a fool of myself by misreading the situation yet again. "I should just go. I can get Ben and Angela to give me a ride back to my truck," I said as I stared down at my pretty, painted toes before moving to stand up.

"Don't go!" he blurted out as he grabbed onto my wrist. "Please, don't be embarrassed. I like you, Bella, and I want to be your friend. I'm sorry if I misled you, but that's my fault, not yours." That word, friend, felt like a stab to my heart, but his words were so gentle and sincere that I couldn't let him feel guilty about my delusions. He had been nothing but kind and sweet to me. If he wanted to be my friend, I would take what I could get.

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**French Translations:  
**Au revoir! – Goodbye!  
Bonjour la plus belle Bella. – Hello most beautiful Bella.  
Tu as de très beaux yeux – You've got very beautiful eyes.

**A/N:** So Bella's stuck in the 'friend' zone and it looks like Edward has some conflicting emotions going on. Choices will need to be made—soon. I thoroughly enjoyed writing about them getting their flirt on. Can't wait for more of that, and really Edward can't wait either! Let me know what you thought!

Hollister1980 is my fab prereader and Hibbleton78 is my wonderful beta extraordinare! She also corrects my French, although, she claims she only knows how to cuss me out in French.

**Reviews get teased!**


	4. A Fine Mess

Thank you to Hibbleton78 for lending her amazing beta skills and spamming me with pics of Ian Somerhalder. She's wonderful in ways I can't even being to tell you. A very special thank you goes out to my pre-reader, Holly1980. She really helped me work through this chapter. I'm not sure how much longer you would have had to wait for it, if it wasn't for her. _Hugs, kisses, and sweet dreams of 'ecstatic trails' to you both!_ *mwah*

Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its beautiful characters. This story is loosely based off of plot lines from the original Beverly Hills, 90210 TV series. I have taken many liberties with them. The remainder is my original work.

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_Previously on __The Little Fish__:_

"_Don't go!" he blurted out as he grabbed onto my wrist. "Please, don't be embarrassed. I like you, Bella, and I want to be your friend. I'm sorry if I misled you, but that's my fault, not yours." That word, friend, felt like a stab to my heart, but his words were so gentle and sincere that I couldn't let him feel guilty about my delusions. He had been nothing but kind and sweet to me. If he wanted to be my friend, I would take what I could get._

**Chapter 4  
**"**A Fine Mess"**

I felt like a complete asshole. The last thing I'd wanted to do was hurt Bella. I had never met anyone like her. In one short week she had captivated me in ways I had never experienced before, making me question everything I thought I was so sure of. It was too easy to forget about anything of consequence when I was with her. I was mesmerized by her smile, her laugh, her beauty, her every mannerism. She was witty, funny, and could dish a joke as well as take one. On top of all of that she was brilliant and driven. Every interaction between us was so natural and effortless.

I hadn't intended to lead her on but I knew that was exactly what I had done as I stood out here in the moonlight, hearing the heartbreak in her voice when she confronted me. When she said those words—'You have a girlfriend'—her tone was laden with accusation that I was playing with her heart, yet her eyes pleaded with me to say it was all a misunderstanding and that what she felt was real. I hated that by making what had seemed like the right decision at the time in trying to salvage my existing relationship, I had inadvertently cheapened everything that had happened between us this past week, because to me there was nothing cheap about it.

I never should have flirted with her or let it escalate the way I had, but the romance of the moment and my desire to see her shy smile when I paid her a compliment got away from me. I tried to offer her the only condolence that I could by accepting responsibility for my mistakes and letting her know that I felt drawn to her too and wanted to be her friend, if she would grant me that. I couldn't lose her now that I had found her, but I knew nothing I could say would mean anything until I figured out what I was going to do about Tanya.

This week had been a blur of confusion, a strange juxtaposition of complete happiness with moments of loneliness. I missed my friends from back home and Beverly Hills felt like a foreign country to me, yet I was truly enjoying the company of my new friends, some more than others. Bella had been the highlight of my week. I took every available opportunity to converse with her, and in those moments it was easy to forget about all of the people I had left behind, Tanya in particular. Bella took away the sting of the sudden move and subsequent upheaval of my life. I now realized how selfish my actions were; I wasn't fair to either of them. Bella had no reason to suspect or question whether I had a girlfriend because I had failed to mention it to her.

"Friends," she murmured as she turned away from me and faced the water, resignation evident in her softened tone, hinting at her underlying hurt.

My hand was still wrapped around her wrist and I really didn't want to let go. No, what I wanted to do was encase her in my arms and tell her she didn't need to be sad or uncomfortable, that we would find our way together. Instead, I gave her wrist a gentle squeeze and let go. My palm brushed against hers and the soft sensation was almost enough to bring me to my knees. Fighting the powerful urge to thread my fingers with hers, I let out a sigh and tried to give her a reassuring smile. I had to fix this mess—fast.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Look, Edward, I'm sorry if I read into things. Can we just forget this whole thing happened? Start over, maybe?"

"If that's what you want?" I agreed, though there was no way I could forget a single moment I'd spent with her.

She nodded, still focused on the crashing shore stretched out in front of us.

"Tell me about her. I mean, she must be special if you chose to stay with her even when you had to move across the country."

"Are you sure? We don't have to talk about her, Bella."

"We're friends now, right? Friends talk about their relationships." She sounded resolved, and though I was still skeptical about this topic of conversation, she was giving me a chance to be her friend and I would deny her nothing.

"Okay, well, her name is Tanya, and we've been friends pretty much my entire life. We grew up in the same neighborhood with the same group of friends. We went to school together since kindergarten, and when we were younger we were forced to play together a lot because our parents were close friends. Over time she became one of my best friends. Then as we got older and started becoming interested in the opposite sex…I don't know…it just sort of worked out. We could always count on each other for a date to a school dance or the movies, and somewhere along the line it developed into something more."

Bella remained silent so I decided to continue on, not knowing if I would ever have another opportunity to clear the air.

"Now that I have some distance and perspective, I guess our relationship was out of convenience more than anything. We were really good friends, but emotionally maybe it was never anything more than that." I paused as the reality of my own words settled over me. This changed everything. "Alice thinks I should have broken up with her as soon as we knew we were moving, and maybe she was right, but when I told Tanya we had to leave she was already so hurt. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I thought she deserved better than that from me."

"You're very compassionate. It's admirable, really," she replied after a few moments of silence.

"The thing is, I thought I was doing the right thing…at the time anyway, but then she called me earlier today and she was just so damn upset." I could hear my own voice rising as I remembered the frustrating phone conversation.

"And that's why you've been acting so…off?"

"What?"

"Well, you've hardly spoken to me at all today, and earlier you apologized for being rude. Was all of that because you got into a fight with her?"

"Uh, yeah, mostly. I told her about the bonfire and how excited I was to hang out with everyone. She got pissed and started accusing me of a bunch of nonsense. I think she feels hurt and left out that my life is moving on without her, but I don't really know what to do about it."

"It must be difficult being separated. I'm sure she just really misses you."

I felt so torn in that moment that I couldn't muster a response. I had been a jerk to Bella all day because I couldn't deal with my own conflicting emotions and guilt, and here she was trying to console me about a situation that she shouldn't even have to hear about. I felt bad for Tanya and intensely guilty that I was functioning so well without her by my side, but I was also annoyed and frustrated that she was angry at me for trying to make the best of circumstances beyond my control. It was even more maddening listening to Bella try to justify Tanya's harsh words. I wasn't sure how deep her feelings for me were, but I knew if the situation was reversed I wouldn't be able to handle hearing her complain about a boyfriend. I needed to change the subject fast, so I blurted the first question that came to mind after that train of thought.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" The words were out of my mouth before I had finished thinking them.

"What? No!" she cried out, offended. Of course she didn't have a boyfriend. Bella wouldn't spend a week sending flirtatious smiles my way and then call me out on having a girlfriend if she was taken herself. I should have known better, and now I had just royally pissed her off.

"I should get going," she clipped, pulling out her cell phone to check the time. "Are you ready or should I ask Angela for a ride?" She didn't even wait for my reply before stalking off towards the party. When I caught up with her she was huddled in a circle with my sister and Angela.

"There's our girl. We saw you walk off with Edward. What did you talk about?" I heard Angela ask her as I got closer. Bella looked down, shaking her head while kicking at the sand and mumbled a response that I couldn't hear. Alice looked up and glared when she spotted me. I knew I was going to get an earful from her later, and I deserved it.

The girls continued to whisper together for a few minutes before Angela turned and addressed me. "Ben and I are ready to go, so we'll drop Bella off at her truck. This is your party, you should stay."

I didn't know what to say. I wanted a chance to apologize to Bella, but there were only so many times I could say 'I'm sorry' in one night and still have it mean something. I understood that she probably didn't want to be stuck in the car with me and needed time to cool off, so I nodded my understanding.

Bella hugged Alice goodbye and then turned to Angela dutifully ignoring me. The two girls linked arms as they wandered off to find Ben. As soon as they were out of ear shot, Alice stepped in front of me.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," she leveled with a cold stare before turning on her heel and traipsing back to Jasper's side, leaving me alone to mull over my mistakes.

I wanted a do-over of the entire day starting with my phone conversation with Tanya. We had sent text messages back and forth throughout the week, as well as a few emails, but the last time we had spoken on the phone was Monday night. My week had been absorbed in a new school, new friends, and Bella. I felt tremendous guilt every time I received a text from Tanya and realized that I hadn't been thinking of her too, not the way I used to. I shouldn't need to be reminded of her presence.

I'd attempted to call her on Thursday night to help ease my own remorse but got her voicemail. I knew she was struggling with her emotions regarding our current predicament, and I wasn't acting like the boyfriend that she needed right now to work through this. It had been over two weeks since I had last seen her in person. Every day it felt a little more real, a little more permanent. We may not have broken up, but we were separated—physically at least.

When Tanya had called me this morning, I'd tried to keep a positive spin on everything by playing down my own struggles, hoping it would bring her some level of comfort. Instead, I had managed to fire her up. First she accused me of turning into a Beverly Hills playboy, and then she begged me to help her fly out so she could experience the Hollywood party life with me. The idea was ludicrous and beyond our means as a couple of teens. There was no way either of our parents would go for it. She took my well intended responsibility as rejection, claiming I didn't want her to interfere with my new California girls and partying. At the time, her accusations wounded and irritated me. I would never cheat on her, and she had to know that for as long as we had known and trusted each other. The more irate she grew, hurling more blame at me, the closer I got to ending it right then and there. In retrospect, after the way the day had played out and seeing how much I'd inadvertently hurt Bella, I almost didn't care how big of an asshole it would have made me to officially call off the relationship in the heat of the moment.

There was also the minor issue of Rosalie Hale. It had become more and more obvious to me throughout the week that Emmett had a thing for her. He hadn't come outright and said it, but in all his flirting with anyone wearing a skirt, he'd never spoken of another the way he did Rosalie. She was beautiful in a very classic and obvious Hollywood sort of way. For whatever reason, she had taken an instant liking to me. It's not that I wasn't attracted to her—you would have to be a fool not to be—but she didn't captivate me on every level the way Bella did. Throughout the week I had tried to gently rebuff her advances, for multiple reasons, not the least of which was my new friendship with Emmett.

When Rosalie showed up at the bonfire, she made her way over to Emmett and me with a number of followers in tow, including Lauren and Jessica. They had all been drinking and quite loose with their affections and blatant attempts flirting. In an effort to shrug off the girls once and for all, I'd told them that I had a girlfriend and didn't want to give them the wrong impression. As if on cue, Tanya had sent me a text message reminding me of her looming presence and less than pleased attitude about my plans for the evening. It had worked in my favor to reinforce my existing relationship in front of the other girls. Rosalie ditched her spot on my arm in favor of Emmett, and the other girls scattered in search of another warm body to keep them company for the evening.

Now I sat alone, and for once I preferred it that way. I glanced up from the fire and saw that Alice looked content listening to Jasper who was still strumming on his guitar. I had to admit he was quite good. I didn't know him very well yet, but we had plans to go surfing together along with Emmett next weekend. I had heard numerous rumors about Jasper's player status at West Beverly, and I had legitimate concerns about my sister's interest in him, but I would give him a chance for Alice.

Next to them I noticed Jessica and Lauren had both managed to wrangle themselves a guy to lock lips with, if only for the night. They were a couple of guys that Emmett had introduced me to from the water polo team, Tyler and Mike. On the other side of the fire, Emmett was sitting on a beach towel in the sand with Rosalie reclined against his chest between his legs. They both appeared happy and heavily inebriated. Everywhere I looked I saw couples in some form or another. Some were kissing and sharing whispered secrets, while others were getting down and dirty on the beach. I stared back in the fire knowing exactly what I needed to do, because there was only one person that I could imagine wanting to kiss, whisper sweet nothings to, or get down and dirty with.

As the party wound down, I busied myself picking up the deserted red plastic cups and beer bottles that littered the sand. I had made a half-hearted attempt to mingle for the last hour or so, but now I was just ready to go home. Alice must have noticed my need to escape because she appeared at my side with Jasper whose arm was slung casually around her shoulders. I tried not to glare at him, but the back-off look that Alice was giving me indicated my failure.

"Ready to go?" I asked, pleading to Alice with my eyes to say yes.

"Yep. Do you mind if we give Jasper a ride home first? He had a few drinks…"

Jasper interjected, "You don't have to, dude. It's cool. I can get a ride with someone else if you want."

"No, it's fine, man. I don't mind at all."

The three of us headed towards my car, an older silver Volvo that my dad handed down to me when I got my driver's license. Technically, Alice and I would be sharing it someday, but until she got her license—which she seemed in no rush to do—it was all mine. It wasn't much to look at, but I was seventeen and it was a set of wheels, so who was I to complain?

Alice climbed in the backseat, leaving Jasper the front so that he could direct me to his house.

"Nice gramps-mobile, dude," Jasper mocked as he dropped himself into the passenger seat.

"Yeah, yeah. Just get in, unless your drunk ass would rather walk home," I teased back. He turned and smirked at Alice in the back.

"You have a good time tonight, pretty girl?"

"Yeah, the best," she enthused, grinning from ear to ear.

"So, Jasper, since you made fun of my ride, what kind of car do you drive?" I asked interrupting their flirting before they got too carried away.

"Oh, Jazz has a sweet Porsche Cayenne. You would love it," Alice replied for him.

"Nice."

"Yeah, it's a 2010, murdered out—all flat black, riding on 24 inch black Giovanna wheels, tinted windows—it's sick," Jasper bragged with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

"Damn. Guess you've earned your rights to rag on my hoopty," I laughed.

"You ready to catch some waves next week?"

"Yep, can't wait. I've never been surfing. Do I need to rent a board or something?"

"Nah, I have an extra you can borrow. You don't want to be caught riding one of those rental banana boards, trust me."

"Thanks, man."

"I wanna go surfing," Alice whined from the backseat with a playful pout.

"Next time, sugar. I promise," Jasper soothed. "Make a right up here on Santa Monica Boulevard." He finished directing me to his home, which was only about five minutes away from Emmett's place. It was a modern beach house, with clean geometric lines and a ton of windows. After saying our goodbyes, Alice moved up to the front seat on the car and we headed home. The ride was quiet, and an unspoken tension filled the air.

Upon arriving at home, we were greeted by our parents who had waited up to hear all of the details of our evening. Fortunately for me, Alice carried the conversation with ease and I only spoke up when I was addressed directly. My mom eyed me with a knowing look, no doubt certain that something significant had transpired. If only she knew the mess I had gotten myself into, but I didn't deserve her pity or understanding right now. I had hurt both Tanya and Bella today, neither of them deserving of the pain I had caused.

I retreated to my bedroom at the first possible opportunity. I took a hot shower in an attempt to clear my head. As I scrubbed my body, my thoughts drifted back to Bella, specifically to the bright blue bikini top that was peeking out of her shirt all night, contrasting perfectly with her creamy, ample cleavage. Her thin, golden legs looked like they went on for days under her tiny shorts. Her hair was curled away from her face and pinned back, making her look like a pinup, embodying my every fantasy. She was incredibly beautiful and seemed oblivious to the fact, only making her even more attractive to me. When she had walked out of Alice's bathroom dressed for the party, I almost lost my shit. I wanted to reach out and touch her just to know that she was real and not a figment of my overactive imagination. I wanted to know if her skin was a soft as it looked, if her lips tasted of cherries, if her hair smelled of flowers. My hand mindlessly wrapped around my rock-hard cock as I began to slowly pump, picturing Bella sitting in the sand under the soft moonlight. I managed three solid thrusts before I snapped back to reality and realized what I was doing. I groaned as I slammed my hand against the slate tile wall and turned the water to cold to shock my erection back into submission. I didn't deserve the release; Bella didn't deserve to be used for my own sick pleasure; and Tanya didn't deserve to be disrespected as I fantasized of another in such an intimate way.

I finished my shower and dressed quickly in a comfortable pair of basketball shorts and an old, worn t-shirt. Needing a distraction, I grabbed my iPod and started to recline back on my bed, before tossing it to the side and trudging down the hall to the study instead. I stood next to the shiny baby grand piano and stared intently at the black and white keys as if they held the answers to my problems. After a moment, I took a seat on the bench and let my fingers glide over the ivories, playing a few soft scales. I didn't bother to look up when I heard the door behind me open, knowing she would come as soon as I started to play.

"Are you okay, my son?" my mom asked as she wrapped her arm around my shoulders and took a seat next to me. I nodded as I started to play her favorite composition. She laid her head on my shoulder and listened quietly while the music soothed both of our souls. When I finished playing, she remained silent for a few minutes absorbing our sweet mother/son moment before rising to head to bed.

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

"Of course, Mom. I'm not really sure what to say yet. I'm just confused."

"Trust your heart, Son. You'll make the right decision. You always do. I love you."

"Love you too, Ma."

I had a hard time falling asleep that night, as I mentally berated myself over the events of the day and past week. I eventually fell into a fitful sleep only to be woken the next morning by my bed shaking and my sister obnoxiously yelling 'earthquake.'

"Go away, Alice," I hollered in the strongest voice I could muster while still half asleep.

"Come on, sleepyhead. It's after eleven o'clock. I have plans today and we need to talk. I can't wait for you any longer. I'm dying here."

I groaned and rolled over pulling the pillow over my head. Alice pried it from my fingers and began to beat me with it.

"I'm up, I'm up!" I yelled as I rolled off the bed and scrambled into the bathroom.

"Jeez, how much coffee have they let you have this morning?" I teased as I walked back into my room. Alice had made my bed while I was gone and was now reclined comfortably against the head board.

"Talk to me," she requested simply, patting the space on the bed beside her. "Help me understand what's going on, because I have to say right now I really want to kick your ass. So talk to me." I climbed onto the bed next to her as I tried to compose my words.

"I don't know what to say. I screwed up." She raised her eyebrows in a look that clearly said 'duh' but remained quiet so I continued. "I'm, uh… I'm second guessing my decision to stay with Tanya. We got into a fight yesterday. It was bad. She expects me to fix everything even if it's out of my control. She accused me of cheating on her, and I just got so mad, but… then I've been having all these feelings…"

"For Bella?" she finished for me.

"Yeah, for Bella. I have feelings for Bella." I repeated the words for my own benefit, enjoying the way they sounded. I couldn't help the smile that overtook my face at finally being about to say it out loud.

"But you never told her about Tanya? You never thought to mention her in all of your French sweet talking, Casanova?"

"Honestly? No. I wasn't intentionally trying to hide anything from her, but when I'm with her it's like the rest of the world ceases to exist. God, that sounds so cheesy, but it's the truth."

"Aww!" Alice gushed.

"Oh, stop making fun and help me figure out how to fix this."

"Well, if it's Bella that you want, you have to earn her trust back. I talked to her on the phone this morning. She sounds confused but, bless her heart, she still really wants to be your friend. Did you know she thought you were asking her out when you invited her to the bonfire? Then you turned around and treated her like shit as soon as she saw you yesterday. What was with you anyway? One minute you looked like you were ready to hump her leg and the next you were glaring at her like she was the devil. Bella has every right to be pissed at you, but instead she's taking all of the blame on herself. She rambled off some bull about how she read too much into the situation and let her own attraction skew her perspective. Then she overheard from Jessica and Lauren of all people that you already had a girlfriend. She thought you were with Rosalie for crying out loud."

"Rosalie?" I couldn't believe it, any of it. She thought I was asking her out on a date? Did that mean she _wanted_ to go out with me? And why was she was still placing the blame on herself after the way I acted? Wasn't it obvious that I was the one that screwed up? Above all that, I heard one thing crystal clear: 'she still really wants to be your friend.'

"Yeah, she saw Rosalie hanging on you at the bonfire after you ditched her and she filled in the blanks for herself. So are you going to fix this or do I have to kick your ass for her? Because she's clearly too sweet and wonderful to do it herself."

"She is pretty wonderful."

"Okay, come off it, lover boy," she teased. "So what's the plan? Nothing you say to Bella is going to make a bit of a difference until you get your act together. First things first, what are you going to do about Tanya?"

"Ugh, I need to call her. I thought I was doing the right thing trying to keep her happy, but my priorities have suddenly shifted. Damn it! She's going to be so upset, but I don't see any other way." I ran my hands over my face and hopped up from the bed, unable to sit still with the frustration and adrenaline coursing through my veins again.

"Edward, I know you don't want to hear my opinion on Tanya, and I know you two have been friends forever, but the fact of the matter is you were never really meant to be together."

"I know."

"Wait. What did you just say? Did you just agree with me?" she asked looking entirely too pleased that I had just admitted that Tanya was not the girl for me.

"Yes. You're right. God, you're always right. Why is it that you're always right, exactly?" She just giggled as I tried to make light of the situation.

"Thanks for putting up with me and my stubborn ways. Guess it's time that Tanya and I had a very important discussion so that we can each move on with our lives."

"I know this is hard for you, but everything is going to work out exactly as it's supposed to. You'll see. You and Bella are going to be an amazing couple."

"Only if she still wants me after this mess."

"She will. She might make you work for it, but serves you right. Better be ready to grovel. Now my work here is done. I have to go get ready. Rosalie is meeting me here in an hour to go shopping!"

"Rosalie?"

"Yeah, we got to talking at the party last night. She's actually pretty cool. Did you know she's a model? Sometimes she even gets to keep outfits from her photo shoots. I'm so jealous! Anyway, she's picking me up and showing me some of her favorite boutiques that carry indie designers. I called Bella and Angela to invite them along, but Bella said she had studying to do and Angela was watching her little brothers."

"Well, have fun I guess."

After Alice left, I decided to get on with the inevitable and give Tanya a call. I picked up my phone and stared at it for what could have been minutes or hours before I started to dial the familiar number. I tapped out the first four digits before I lost my nerve and hung up. I repeated the ritual twice more before I finally finished dialing and heard the phone ringing on the other end. I almost caved and hung up again before I heard her voice come on the line.

"Hi, you've reached Tanya. Leave me some love and I'll call you back," her voicemail sang in a light and carefree tone. I once again considered hanging up before I took a deep, steadying breath and decided to just suck it up and leave a message.

"Hi Tan, It's me. I… I'm really sorry about yesterday. I know that my move has been hard on you, and I hate that you're hurting over this. You may not believe it, but I do. Listen, we really need to talk. I know that sounds ominous." I contemplated for a moment if I should say 'miss you' or 'love you' like I would have in any other message, but it seemed wrong somehow, so I selected my closing words carefully. "Please, just call me back as soon as you can. It's important. We need to work this out. Bye."

I took a deep breath as I hung up the phone, feeling confident that this was the right decision. Then I waited, and waited. Sunday came and went and Tanya never returned my call. I'd even sent her a text late in the afternoon asking her to please call me, and that remained unanswered as well.

Monday morning found me in American History with Emmett and Rosalie. She was yammering on about how much fun she had shopping with my sister the day before and their future plans to hit up all the major malls in L.A. At least that was what I got from it. I was more interested in watching Emmett's reactions to her. While I didn't think he actually cared about their spending exploits, he was watching her like she was telling him life's greatest secrets. I noticed throughout the rest of the morning that whenever she was around his focus was directed solely on her. I started to suspect the Emmett had a bit more than just a simple crush on Rosalie.

By the time lunch rolled around, I was vibrating with anticipation of seeing Bella. I hadn't seen her since the bonfire, and I still wanted to apologize for upsetting her when I tactlessly asked if she had a boyfriend. In my eagerness to speak to her, I was the first to arrive at our chosen table in the courtyard. My head popped up and my pulse spiked every time another person plopped down at the table joining the group. First it was Emmett, then Angela and Ben, then Alice and Rosalie towing Jasper behind them, and finally Mike and Tyler. Twenty minutes into the lunch hour it became obvious that Bella was not going to show. Even knowing that she would have to face me next period for Journalism, my heart sunk a little wondering if I was the cause of her absence.

My mood had shifted from anticipation of seeing her to anxiety by the time the bell rang. When Ben asked if I was ready to head to class, I made up an excuse about needing to go to my locker first to prolong the inevitable. I loitered outside the Journalism room until after the final bell had rung and I could no longer delay going in. I walked in with my eyes cast down at my feet as I made my way back to my desk. I resisted the urge to look for her, but I could feel her presence in the room. I started to pull out my notebook and the assigned article that was due from my backpack when a cute, jean clad tush perched on the edge of my desk.

"Hi," she breathed. When I looked up at her beautiful face she didn't appear angry at all. In fact, she looked almost guilty with her signature shy smile in place.

"Hey."

"I just wanted to say sorry for the way I acted the other night. I overreacted, and I don't want things to be awkward with us having to work together on the paper."

"It's okay. I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to upset you. Blame it on foot-in-mouth disease, I guess."

She giggled and nodded her acceptance.

"So, do you have your article finished?"

"I do." I handed her both the printed copy and a flash drive with my file.

"Perfect. I can't wait to read it," she replied with a smile. I didn't tell her that while trying to write about my experience as a transfer student, all I really wanted to write about was her. Even though the words were itching at the back of my throat to escape, I was resolved to handle things with Tanya properly before I revealed the true depths of my feelings to Bella. Instead, I just returned her lovely smile and kept my thoughts to myself.

Bolstered by the fact that Bella didn't appear to hate me, I tried to call Tanya again that night only to be greeted by her voicemail once more. Frustrated that she was ignoring me, my message was more direct and less amicable than the day before.

"Tanya, I know you're upset, but you need to call me back. It's important. We need to talk. Bye."

I slept soundly that night, encouraged that Bella and I would be okay. We were friends, and perhaps someday soon I could call her something more.

The next morning, Alice and I greeted her together before school. She seemed pleased to see me and that was enough to start my day off on the right foot. My hopefulness dissipated when lunch rolled around and Bella was once again a no show. I started to question if I had read too much into our progress before I resolved to just go find her and put myself out of my misery. I excused myself to _The Blaze_ office under the guise that I needed to make a change to the article I had submitted. It was a weak excuse, but no one at the table questioned me.

As I approached the office door, I caught a glimpse of Bella through the small window, sitting with her bare feet propped up on the desk, her pony tail bopping up and down as she sang along to whatever music she had playing on her iPod. She was eating what looked like a yogurt and singing into her spoon after each bite. I bit back a grin as I knocked on the door.

"Knock knock. Mind if I come in?" I asked as I nudged the door open with a smirk on my face that clearly said 'busted.'

"Edward, hi. I wasn't expecting anyone," she said with wide-eyes as she pulled her feet off the desk, yanked out her ear buds, and scrambled to clean up her lunch mess. "Did you need something?"

"No, I just wanted to say hi."

"Oh, hi," she replied with a smile.

"You already said that," I teased.

"Hmm. I guess I did."

"I was actually wondering what was so important that you couldn't join us for lunch. We need someone to keep Jasper in line, you know. Did you need help with something?"

"Nope, no help needed. I'm fine. I guess I'm just comfortable in here."

"Oh, well I can go if you'd rather be alone…"

"No. Don't go."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm a hundred percent sure. Stay and talk to me."

I grinned at her eagerness.

"What would you like to talk about?" I asked as I took the seat across from her desk.

"Hmm… Well, I read your article last night and I have to say I couldn't put it down. It was great—really great. We'll go over it during class, but I am curious about your writing. Do you plan on making a career of it?"

"Yeah, probably. I want to be a sports writer—well, that's the plan anyway, but plans can change. I would also like to write a book someday. I doubt I'll write the next great American novel or anything, but hopefully someday in the future I'll be able to say I'm a published author. That's probably just a pipe dream though."

"You can do it. Your writing is amazing, and I'm not just blowing smoke as your friend. I mean it as your editor."

I flushed at her compliment. Her opinion mattered immensely to me for reasons I didn't even understand. "Thanks. How about you? Do you want to make a career of it?"

"Definitely. I want to go to the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism to get my undergraduate degree in Journalism," she rattled off, making it clear that she had thought this through—thoroughly. "And if all goes well, I hope to get my Master's there as well. Then I just hope to land a job where I can make a difference, you know?"

"You're brilliant, Bella. You'll make a difference no matter where you work," I said with complete honesty.

"Um, thanks." She smiled and blushed, just like she always did when someone paid her a compliment. I had to keep control of my faculties so that I wasn't tempted to reach out and stroke her pinked cheek again. That hadn't ended well last time.

"So, do you want to tell me why you're really hiding in this office instead of outside with your friends?" I asked. She studied me for a moment before looking down at her lap embarrassed.

"You'll think it's stupid."

"I doubt that. Try me," I said, leaning forward so my forearms were resting on the desk bringing our faces much closer together.

"Um…well, I just don't think I really fit in with everyone. I mean… Argh! This is lame, never mind."

"Just tell me, Bella. Whatever it is that has you so troubled is a big deal if it's bothering you." I paused for a moment before I voiced my underlying fear. "Is it because of me?"

"What? No. You're great. I mean, we're great. I mean, friends—we're friends. It's not you. It's Alice…"

"Alice? You don't like my sister?" That was the last thing I'd expected her to say. Alice adored Bella, and it sure seemed like the feeling was mutual.

"No, that's not what I meant. This is coming out all wrong. I love Alice. It's just that she's become friends with Rosalie now, and that's fine, but I don't think that she likes me."

"You don't think that Rose likes you? Why's that?"

"I don't know. We're just different. She's always pretended that I don't exist, and I've always stayed out of her way. For the most part that's worked out fine, but now I feel awkward around them."

Until that moment, I hadn't keyed into just how insecure Bella was. We'd never discussed the incident after French class on my first day, and I had chalked it up to bad blood between Bella, Lauren, and Jessica. I was beginning to see that there may be more to it.

"Maybe she just needs a chance to get to know you. She seems pretty cool to me, a bit of a flirt, but cool. And I know my sister, she would never let one of her friends treat you badly or not include you."

"I know. Rose and I are just from different worlds. This was all so much easier when everyone pretended I was invisible."

"You have to stop saying that," I snapped and then softened my tone when I saw the shocked look on her face. "Yes, you're different from the other girls here, but only in the good ways." She giggled at my butchered words.

"I think there may have been a compliment in there somewhere," she smiled as the tension in the room dissipated.

"Yeah, that didn't really come out right…" I laughed along with her. As long as it made her smile, I didn't mind looking like an idiot.

"It's okay. Thanks for talking to me, Edward. This was nice."

"Yeah, it really was. So are you going to join us for lunch tomorrow?"

"Maybe. Or you could join me in here again?"

"Hmm, maybe," I smirked.

The next day I didn't even bother going to the courtyard at lunch; instead, I made my way directly to _The Blaze_ office where I knew Bella would be because Alice had told me she had a free period after their Drama class. Sure enough, I found her staring intently at her computer screen while typing away at a furious speed.

"Don't you ever take a break?" I teased with a wink as I plopped down in the same chair as the day before.

"Shut it, you. I take my job very seriously."

"I can see that." We spent the rest of lunch, bantering back and forth, discussing anything and everything we could think of.

The rest of the week passed in the same manner; every afternoon I would show up at the office for lunch. We laughed, ate, shared stories, and learned more about one another. It was always the bright spot in my day. Every evening I would go home and call Tanya, and each unanswered call resulted in an even more frustrated message. By Friday night, I was seriously contemplating breaking up with her via voicemail or email. I knew it was wrong, but it wasn't like she had left me with a whole lot of options. I resolved myself to giving her the weekend to respond before I took drastic actions.

Saturday morning came way too early with my alarm blaring at five o'clock. Jasper said the best waves were first thing in the morning so we made plans for him to pick me up bright and early. I pulled on a pair of board shorts and the first clean t-shirt that I could find, knowing we would be changing into wetsuits anyway.

"Surf's up. Ready to catch some waves, dude?" Jasper greeted with a fist bump as soon as I opened the front door for him.

"If I can keep my eyes open, hell yes."

"Trust me, the best swells around here are early in the morning. It's totally worth the sleep loss." We walked out to his car where he already had his two boards strapped to the roof rack.

"We'll go pick up Emmett and then head to the beach."

"Sounds like a plan." When we arrived at Emmett's house he was already sitting on his front step with this board stretched across his lap. As soon as he spotted us, he jumped into action like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Ready to eat it, Eddie?" he taunted as we secured his board to the roof rack.

"Shut it," I laughed. "Yeah, yeah. I'm sure I'll probably spend more time spitting out seawater than surfing today."

"Don't worry about it, bro. Everyone wipes out. You just paddle back out and do it again." We drove to the beach that Jasper thought was the best to learn at. It wouldn't be as crowded, and the swells were evenly spaced. I think he was also trying to keep me out of the way of more experienced surfers, but if he was he mercifully kept it to himself.

"Let's hit the surf," Emmett exclaimed as soon as were parked.

"Here. You're gonna need this man," Jasper said as he handed me a wetsuit. What happened next I couldn't have been prepared for. Emmett and Jasper both started stripping in broad daylight behind Jasper's car. When I didn't drop trouser along with them they both raised an eyebrow at me.

"Dude, you can't be shy. There's no place to change, and you're gonna want to put that wetsuit on," Jasper said matter-of-factly. Emmett was already down to his skivvies by this point and I quickly turned my head to avoid getting an eyeful. He chuckled as he wrapped a towel around his waist before yanking his boxers off from underneath. Jasper wrapped his own towel around his waist before pulling off his board shorts. He then turned and smirked as he whisper-shouted 'commando' at me with an amused wink. That was entirely too much information. I pulled my own t-shirt over my head and tossed it into the back of the car. I grabbed my towel and held it tight to try and cover as much of myself as possible before I stripped off both my board shorts and boxer briefs. Of course, they hadn't told me what a pain in the ass it was going to be to get said ass into my wetsuit. I fisted my towel tightly in one hand in an attempt to keep it closed as I yanked the wetsuit up with my other hand. I winced when I pulled it up a little too high. Once I had myself adjusted and fully concealed from the waist down, I began the same battle with the arm holes.

After we unloaded the boards, we walked down to the beach, and Jasper directed us to a flat sandy spot that he thought would be good for the first part of my surf lessons. The beach was deserted except for a few seagulls, and the only sound was the crashing tide. The water was gorgeous, reflecting the orange glow of the morning sun rising behind us.

"You see that area where the waves are breaking? That's called the bone yard. We have to paddle out past that to get to the swells. The trick is to catch the wave as far out as you can before it breaks so you can ride on the face and get inside of the curl."

"Catch the wave as far out as possible. Got it," I repeated, trying to memorize his directions.

"Okay, now lay on your stomach on the board." I did as instructed and laid down on the board the way I imagined I would in the water.

"Good. Now to catch a wave you have to paddle like your life depends on it so you stay in front of it. Once you can feel it pushing you, you need to grasp the sides of your board to steady it and then hop up." He showed me where to grasp the board and how to position my feet for optimum control.

"Alright, I think you're ready to give it a go. Let's wax up and hit the waves," Jasper proclaimed after a few dry runs.

"Wax up?" I questioned, feeling like a fool for not understanding any of their surf lingo.

"Sex Wax, you put it on the deck of the board for traction," he explained as he started waxing his surf board in long strokes. Just as he was finishing up, a girl jogging along the beach glanced over and gave him a finger wave.

"Sex Wax always gets the beach bunnies worked up, bro," Emmett chuckled at his own joke.

"I think that's just surfers in general, dude," Jasper amended and I laughed along with both of them, knowing that guys like Emmett and Jasper had no trouble attracting female attention, surfers or not.

When we were done waxing, we secured our ankle straps and waded out into the breaking shore. I laid my board down on the water when I noticed the guys drop theirs and waited for further direction.

"We paddle from here," Jasper stated. And paddle we did. They failed to mention that I would be getting a full upper body workout at this ungodly hour of the morning.

"As the waves get bigger the further out we go, you may want to start diving under them with nose of your board angled into them. Otherwise each wave is just going to shove you backwards."

The cold water was just what I needed to wake up and get my adrenaline pumping. We finally made it out past the breaking waves to where the water was calmer. We each climbed up and straddled our boards as we took a moment to catch our breath. It was so peaceful out on the open water. The sun had risen and was now casting a pale yellow reflection onto the water. The consistent rise and fall of the tide soothed my soul, calming the inner turmoil. Even if I never caught a wave today, that moment made it worth it.

I was snapped from my revelry when I heard someone crow out a loud 'woohoo.' Emmett took off on a wave, jumping up onto his board almost instantly. He had his arms raised up above his head in fists, and he sounded like he was on top of the world. Watching him ride out the wave bolstered my confidence. It didn't look too difficult. Jasper asked if I was ready to give it a try and I nodded with enthusiasm as I got into position on my board. When the next swell approached us from behind, he yelled for me to start paddling. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him take off as well. I paddled until I felt the burn in my shoulders and upper back. Suddenly I felt the board propel forward underneath me. I glanced to the side and noticed Jasper had jumped up to a standing position. I grabbed the sides of my board tightly as he had instructed and thrust myself up into a standing position, only my feet never made contact with the board. Instead, I felt myself being toppled head over feet by the crashing wave while my leg was yanked in another direction by the leash linking me to the board. I had a moment of panic when I couldn't tell which way was up. I fought against the strength of the tide and gasped in a strangled breath as I finally breached the surface. I grabbed onto my board like it was my lifeline. I heard someone yelling and turned to find Jasper a few yards away swimming towards me.

"You okay, man? That looked like a gnarly spill," he hollered. I nodded still gasping for air and gave a reassuring thumbs-up until I was able to speak.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Definitely got a mouthful of seawater though," I answered still coughing and sputtering.

"It happens. Don't be alarmed if your throat is raw for the rest of the day. You didn't get a sand facial, did you?"

"Uh…a what?"

He chuckled at me naïveté and then continued to explain. "Did you hit the bottom at all when the waves pulled you under?"

"Nah, I don't think so."

"Lucky. A sand rash can burn for days."

"Sand facial and bone yard? Who the hell came up with these terms?" I laughed.

I took a short break to regain my nerve while I watched the guys shred a few more waves. Jasper was impressive, pulling off spins and riding out tubes. He made it all look so effortless. When I felt recuperated from my wipe out and had regained some of my confidence, I decided to give it another go. I let the first two swells of the next set roll by before I started paddling, determined to catch the next one. I felt the familiar push of the wave and grasped the board firmly before I pulled my hips up and thrust my legs under me. When I felt secure in my squatted position, I straightened my back until I was standing at full height. And suddenly, it was like I was flying. I couldn't see or feel the wave behind me. I was in front of it and several feet above the ocean floor, and all I could feel was the wind whipping past me as I was propelled forward. I had never experienced a sensation so surreal. As the wave began to die down, I hopped off of the board just as it started to wobble. In front of me, I heard the guys hooting and hollering out praise for my first ride. I waved back with a shit-eating grin splitting my face.

We spent the next few hours surfing and chatting as we bobbed in the tide between sets. There was an overwhelming sense of camaraderie between us and the other surfers that showed up throughout the morning. We talked about surfing and Jasper's desire to compete professionally after graduation. We talked about growing up and the different sports we all played. When the conversation naturally turned to girls, I listened intently, still wary of the budding interest between Jasper and my sister.

"Did you ever see that blonde chick again? What was her name…Jane." Emmett asked.

"Nah, we just hooked up the one time," Jasper replied.

"I've heard you're kind of the ladies man around campus," I interjected. I tried not to sound accusatory, but I could tell by the somewhat alarmed look on his face that I had.

"Look, man, I get the whole big brother routine, but I really like your sister. She's different from the superficial bimbos around here, and she's cute as hell."

"How about you, Eddie?" Emmett interrupted trying to keep the peace. "You said you have a girlfriend back in Minnesota. How's the long distance working for ya? Rosie palm becoming your new girl?" he laughed at my predicament.

"Actually, it's not working so well. I've decided to break things off with Tanya. It's for the best."

"Wouldn't have anything to do with a cute, little, brunette editor, would it?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow in question. Was I that obvious?

"Bella?" Jasper gasped.

"Ah, come on, man. How did you not pick up on that? He salivates all over her every time he sees her. Not to mention his mysterious disappearances at lunch time." Emmett looked back at me with a knowing smirk. "You hookin' up in that newspaper office, bro?"

"It's not like that," I defended. "I do like her, but there's nothing going on. I need to talk to Tanya before I put any moves on Bella."

Jasper leveled me with a serious glare. "Just be careful with her, man. You're protective of Alice? Well, I'm just as protective of Bella. Don't do anything that is going to make me have to kick your ass."

"Touché."

"Huh, Alice and Bella were talking about your French, smooth talkin' ways the other day."

"Bella was talking about me?"

"Oh god, you do have it bad, bro," Emmett teased.

"You're one to talk. What's up with you and Rosalie, and don't tell me you're just flirting. I've seen the way you are with her."

"It's complicated, man. Rosie doesn't date. I mean she goes out with plenty of guys, but she doesn't want a boyfriend. I can't let myself fall for her. It's pointless."

"Well, I think you should ask her out, man. Maybe she's just waiting for the right guy."

He looked contemplative for a moment before he let the conversation drop. We surfed one final set before we all decided it was time for some grub. We debated going out to eat but settled on just heading back to my house to make sandwiches and hang out.

When we arrived, I noticed a beat up, orange Chevy pickup and a cherry red Mercedes parked out on the street. Emmett immediately had a knowing grin on his face. Jasper, however, was eyeing me a bit suspiciously. I arched an eyebrow at him in question. He just shook his head laughed under his breath before explaining.

"That's Bella's truck," Jasper started.

"And that's Rosie's Mercedes!" Emmett finished without even attempting to hide his enthusiasm.

"Oh. They must be here to see Alice," I rationalized trying to contain my own excitement at getting to see Bella on a Saturday.

We walked into the house, still covered in sand and tousled from our morning in the water. When we had changed out of our wetsuits, Emmett insisted that it was tradition to walk around in only our baggies for the rest of the day, which basically meant he wanted to show off his masculine physique by remaining shirtless. I figured he was probably full of shit and had every intention of putting on my shirt, but Jasper mumbled for me to just go with it. I chuckled at Emmett's antics, but went with it to appease him.

We found the three girls reclined on the sofa watching some chick flick. When they noticed our presence, they each had a separate reaction. Alice made an odd little 'o' with her mouth before it turned into a seductive grin as she eyed Jasper like he was her last meal. Bella went wide-eyed and blushed before she squeaked out a quiet 'hi.' Rosalie blurted 'hot damn!' while she blatantly ogled each of us before holding out her cell phone and snapping a picture, causing the girls to giggle. That spurred Emmett on, who had taken to posing for Rosalie in an impromptu photo shoot. I rubbed the back of my neck nervously as I tried to catch Bella's eye, but it seemed like she was trying to avoid looking at me. I knew it was wrong, but the seventeen-year-old teenager in me really wanted to know if she liked what she saw.

Jasper and I eventually wrangled Emmett into the kitchen so that we could eat, and we harassed each other about the girls' reactions while we made lunch. When we went back out to the living room with our sandwiches the girls were gone, probably relocating to Alice's room for whatever it is that girls do when they hide away together. I turned on the TV and found a game to watch. The three of us fell back into our easy banter as we talked sports and watched the game.

A while later I heard a car pull up the drive and then the doorbell rang. I thought maybe Alice was expecting someone else, so I yelled, "Alice, door!" When the bell rang again, I got up to answer it myself. I opened it to the very last person that I expected to see on the other side. Her shiny strawberry-blonde hair was piled up on her head and she had an unsure smile on her porcelain face. When she lifted her sunglasses, her bright blue eyes glistened with tears.

"Tanya? W-What are you doing here?"

* * *

**A/N:** dun dun dun!

Oh no she di'int! Oh yes I did. Next chapter is already under way and picks up right where this one left off. So let's recap, shall we? Edward berated himself for hurting Bella and felt a tad guilty for forgetting about Tanya. He's made his decision to let Tanya go, and I for one think it's a damn good one. Bella forgave Edward for his ridiculous boyfriend question and has resigned herself to the friend zone. There were cute lunch time chats in the newspaper office and who could forget about the hot surfin' and shirtless boys. And then… well you know the ending.

Let me know what you thought, even if it's just to tell me I'm evil. ; )

As always, reviews get teased!


	5. Sex, Lies and Volleyball

I know you're all chomping at the bit to find out how Edward handles things with Tanya, so without further ado I give you Chapter 5. We'll chat down below.

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its beautiful characters. This story is loosely based off of plot lines from the original Beverly Hills, 90210 TV series. I have taken many liberties with them. The remainder is my original work.

* * *

_Previously on "The Little Fish":  
__A while later I heard a car pull up the drive and then the doorbell rang. I thought maybe Alice was expecting someone else, so I yelled, "Alice, door!" When the bell rang again, I got up to answer it myself. I opened it to the very last person that I expected to see on the other side. Her shiny strawberry-blonde hair was piled up on her head and she had an unsure smile on her porcelain face. When she lifted her sunglasses, her bright blue eyes glistened with tears._

**Chapter 5  
"Sex, Lies and Volleyball"**

"Tanya? W-What are you doing here?" I asked dumbfounded and beyond confused.

Instead of replying, she threw herself at me, and I caught her in an all too familiar embrace. My mind was scrambling to catch up, to understand what was going on.

"Oh, Edward, I just missed you so much. I'm so, so sorry. You have to forgive me or I'll just die without you. Please, baby, tell me everything is going to be okay. That we're okay." Her incoherent begging turned into sobbing as her tears soaked my chest. I could feel her nails digging into the flesh of my back as she clutched to me like her life depended on it. Her body was wracked with sobs as she continued to cry.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down. Everything's alright," I soothed while gently stroking her back in an attempt to help her to get hold of herself. I didn't know what to make of the situation. Her words and presence baffled me. I was just thrown the biggest curve ball and I didn't know what my next play should be.

Tanya began to pepper my chest, neck, and jaw with kisses. I pulled back, uncomfortable with her affection. She peered up at me with wet, uncertain eyes, a million questions floating in them begging me for answers and comfort. A cheerful voice calling out to me startled us both from the moment.

"Who's here?" Alice asked from the stairs as she made her way toward us. I felt Tanya stiffen in my arms as I was stricken back to reality and the gravity of the current situation. Everyone was here… in my house… including Bella.

I swallowed hard as I took a step away from Tanya to regard my sister. As I turned, Tanya slithered a slender arm around my waist and tucked herself firmly into my side. I heard Alice gasp as she took in the distraught girl clinging to me.

"Oh. My. God," Alice stammered with a mixture of anger and confusion clouding her eyes, not that I blamed her; I was feeling a bit put out and shook up myself.

"What… How…" she continued to sputter in shock. Her eyes widened as something dawned on her and she whirled around to glance behind her.

"Oh shit!" she cursed, when she noticed that Rosalie and Bella had followed after her. The girls peered around her tiny form trying to figure out what was going on. By this point, Jasper and Emmett had also made their way over from the living room to the entry way.

"Everything okay, man?" Emmett inquired, keeping a safe distance from the dramatics unfolding in front of him.

"Umm…" was my brilliant reply as I tried to get my brain and mouth to catch up with reality.

"What in the world are you doing here?" Alice finally burst, flying down the stairs after we had exchanged a look in which I tried to convey that I was just as bewildered as her at our unexpected guest. "How did you even get here?"

At her blunt questioning, Tanya began to cry again, ducking her head back into my chest as she mumbled unintelligibly. It was excruciating having the curious eyes of all my new friends focused on the two of us, wondering how it must look to them. I watched as realization dawned on each of my friends' faces, putting two-and-two together in their own minds. My eyes flicked to Bella's for just a moment before she glanced down at the floor. I watched in horror as she backed herself up against the nearest wall in an attempt to become invisible and began to study the tile floor with great interest. I wanted to go to her, comfort her, and tell her it wasn't what it looked like, but I couldn't.

Alice quickly closed the distance between us and got right into Tanya's face. The two of them had never really gotten along well.

"What's going on, Tanya?" she demanded. Tanya straightened up and wiped the tears from her face, but never left my side. She was still hiccupping from her hysterical sobbing fit.

"C-can we talk about this in private?" she whimpered, glancing back and forth between Alice and me. "Please, baby?" she implored when Alice's gaze never softened.

"We have guests right now. We didn't know you were coming," Alice retorted.

Having heard her response, Jasper suggested that he and everyone else could leave and give us space to talk. At his suggestion, Tanya hesitantly glanced around smiling meekly with glassy, ice blue eyes.

"No. I'm sorry, she's right. I didn't mean to intrude. You don't have to leave. I'm Tanya, by the way. Edward's girlfriend." Her voice was suddenly stronger and surer. She had always been good at masking her emotions when she wanted to.

It didn't go unnoticed that she had just introduced herself as my girlfriend leaving no question as to who she was to me. Why hadn't I just broken up with her voicemail? I felt incredibly uncomfortable as worst case scenarios ran through my head, not the least of which was scaring off Bella permanently. The guys and Alice were all aware that I was ready to end things, while Rosalie and Bella probably assumed we were a happy, reunited couple. I couldn't even set them straight until I had a chance to have a certain impending conversation with Tanya.

"Why don't we all go sit down and chat," Alice suggested.

We filed into the living room, everyone eerily quiet, evidently trying to process in their own minds the full impact of Tanya's presence. I took the tiniest bit of comfort in the fact that Bella hadn't fled yet even though I hated that she was plunged into this situation. It was almost painful to watch as she made her way over to Jasper, her closest friend in the group, and sidled up next to him. He offered her the comfort that I couldn't as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her down onto the couch next to him. I was riddled with jealousy at his simple, friendly act. He was studying her face intently, most likely trying to decipher if the attraction I felt for her was indeed reciprocated and whether or not he needed to remove her from this precarious situation.

I muted the forgotten game on the TV and sat on the adjoining love seat with Tanya. She still had herself tightly hugged into my side though my body remained stiff and unyielding, unable to relax. I felt like it would take a crow bar to pry her off. Everyone sat in agonizing silence while I debated how to break the tension. I tried to give myself a little distance from Tanya by leaning forward with my elbows on my knees, but she maintained a tight grip on my bicep.

"So, everyone, this is Tanya. Tan this is everyone…our new friends," I said awkwardly, my voice cracking at her name as I gestured to the group staring at us with matching bewildered expressions.

"This is Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and Bella," Alice clarified, pointing to each of them, and picking up where I was failing. "They all go to West Beverly with us."

Each of our new friends gave Tanya a small wave and hesitant smile as they were introduced, still unsure of how to proceed.

"Um, Jasper and Emmett took me surfing today for the first time," I mentioned, trying to think of a safe topic of conversation.

"Mmm, did you like it?" she asked as she started to caress my arm. She didn't even wait for my answer before she turned to address the guys, all signs of her previous distress erased from her face.

"Was he good at it? I bet he was good."

"Uh, yeah, he caught on pretty damn quick actually," Emmett replied.

"He's good at _everything_," Tanya cooed as she eyed Rosalie and Bella, her words thick with innuendo, marking her territory. I swallowed hard at the implication and wracked my brain trying to think of a way steer her away from intimidating the girls. This was something she was notorious for. It had never bothered me before, not at all desiring the extra female attention, but now it was making me feel nauseous.

"I've missed you, baby. You look good," she continued as she began to run one hand up and down my spine, dragging her nails as she went. I was suddenly very aware that I was still shirtless. I sat up abruptly, uncomfortable with her blatant PDA.

"Thanks. Umm, surfing was cool. I actually wiped out pretty bad the first time, but I eventually got the hang of it. When I did get up, it was like nothing I've ever experienced before."

"Sounds amazing! You'll have to take me while I'm here," she suggested with a huge grin. I gave her a forced half-smile, not wanting to confirm any plans until I knew how long she was staying for and we had a chance to really talk.

"Maybe. Um, how long are you here for, exactly?"

She peered at me sheepishly before answering.

"I'm not sure yet."

I was puzzled by her answer, knowing that if this was a legit visit she would know how long she was staying.

"Your parents know that you're here, right?"

She appeared panicked by my question and my gut sank as one of the worst case scenarios that had been previously plaguing me jumped into the forefront of my mind. Had she run away from home? I rubbed my hands over my face in frustration. This could be bad, so very bad. My thoughts were reeling with possibilities and repercussions. Thankfully, Alice directed the conversation back to school and our friends and away from the circumstances of Tanya's visit for the time being.

"So, did Edward tell you that he landed a spot on the school paper here?" Alice asked.

"No, he didn't," she replied. I couldn't tell, but she almost sounded… disappointed?

"Yeah, he's a sports writer again, and Bella here is the editor."

"Hmm…" Tanya pondered for a minute, looking at me with what appeared to be annoyance. "I was kind of hoping you would forget this silly school paper business and just play sports or something… you know, cooler."

"Cooler? You have a problem with my writing? You never said anything before." I was more than a little shocked by her statement.

"It's just that back home everyone knew what a cool guy you were, you know, like the 'it' guy. You're in Beverly Hills now. You don't want people to think you're a geek, do you?"

"What the hell, Tanya?" I yelled, standing abruptly. I couldn't handle sitting next to her for another second, between my own diminished feelings for her and her rude, superficial comment. "How long have you felt this way?"

She jumped up, and immediately began to try and soothe me, rubbing my arms and pleading with me that she was sorry and didn't mean it. Everyone else remained quiet during our confrontation. Embarrassment coursed through me as I looked around at my friends' unsure faces. I couldn't fight with her like this, not in front of them. I took a deep breath and sat down, leaving a little more distance between us this time.

We resumed our small talk about school, the new house, and the many other differences between California and Minnesota. I tried to stay engaged in the conversation, but my mind kept wandering back to what Tanya had said. I found myself shuffling through our past, trying to determine if she had always been so petty and I had just missed it, too close to the situation to notice the transition. The more I thought about it, the more certain I became that Tanya never had been the girl for me; I had built her up to be someone else entirely in my own head and heart.

"So, Alice, do you have a boyfriend yet?" Tanya inquired, bringing me back to the current topic of conversation.

My sister surreptitiously glanced at Jasper before looking down at her hands with pinked cheeks to reply. "Um, no… no boyfriend."

"Well, do you like someone?"

"Oh, I don't… I mean, we've only been here a couple of weeks. I don't know."

I could tell Tanya's inquisition was making my sister uncomfortable, and I was annoyed that she wouldn't just let it drop. She seemed to be garnering some sort of thrill off of watching Alice squirm. In the past I had always accepted that the two of them had conflicting personalities and would probably never be close friends, but now, watching my always confident sister abruptly transition to meek and shy made me take notice that there may be more going on here. How many times had I heard Tanya make little digs at Alice only for me to brush it off as bickering? Was she that insecure that she had to put down my sister to feel better about herself? Her actions and the next words out of her mouth solidified my thoughts.

"Really? Aww, that's too bad. I wouldn't worry about it too much," Tanya said, scooting closer to me and placing her hand on my knee, blatantly flaunting our relationship in front of her. The crushed look on Alice's face was enough to make my blood boil. I brushed Tanya's hand away and slid to the far end of the love seat, under the guise of sipping my drink.

"Are you two a couple?" she asked, gesturing to Jasper and Bella who both started to laugh.

"In his dreams," Bella choked out through her giggles.

"Yeah, yeah. Bells is too good for me. Besides, I have my eye on another pretty girl," Jasper drawled, winking at Alice. As much as I hated watching him flirt with her, I was thankful in that moment that he had reassured her that she was desired.

"How about you guys?" she continued, pointing to Emmett and Rosalie.

"Oh, no. I don't do boyfriends. It's a personal choice every girl has to make," Rosalie responded with an air of pride over decision. "I just want to date, enjoy life, have fun, and be single until college. You know, figure out what I like and don't like in a man. It's not like I'm going to find the guy I'm going to marry in high school, anyway."

Beside her, Emmett gave me a pointed look, as if to say 'see what I mean,' bringing back to mind our previous conversation about his interest in having more than just a flirtatious friendship with her. I had a feeling there was more to it than just a decision to remain uncommitted in high school. I didn't claim to be an expert on women on any level, but I knew that most were led by their hearts and just wanted to feel loved.

"Hmm, I don't know about that," Tanya replied with a defensive tone in her voice. "But, whatever works for you, I guess. Maybe you just need to meet a guy that has it all, like Eddie here."

"He does have it all, doesn't he—gorgeous, smart, athletic, and looking damn fine without a shirt on. Yeah, I'm pretty sure all the girls at school have noticed. I know I have," Rosalie retorted, proving that she was not threatened by her taunting. Tanya swallowed hard and narrowed her eyes for a moment before she plastered a phony smile on her face.

"Baby, have you been dazzling all the poor girls already? You're too nice for your own good. They're all going to think you're flirting with them. You don't want to lead on some pathetic girl and end up with a crazy stalker," she playfully scolded me. Her words hit me hard because I had flirted, and even though it was probably wrong, I didn't want it be construed as an accident. Before I had a chance to speak up and set her straight, a sweet, soft voice interrupted.

"Um, excuse me. I need to use the restroom," Bella stated politely as she stood to head towards the downstairs powder room. Her shoulders were slightly slouched in defeat and she hung her head, refusing to make eye contact with anyone in the room.

"See what I mean!" Tanya exclaimed as soon as Bella was out of the room.

"What?"

"That girl totally likes you. It's so obvious. How many more of these silly girls do you have following you around already? Don't they know you're way out their league?" She giggled at her own line of questioning, actually giggled, like the situation was somehow funny. I for one couldn't find the humor in it; instead, I glared at her, flabbergasted, while she continued her rampage. "Alice and I used to keep a tally of his groupies. What did you call them? Oh yeah, the Edward Cullen Fan Club."

"Tanya! Stop already. Just stop," I hollered, finally losing my cool.

Behind me I heard a quiet throat clear. I turned to find Bella teetering in the entry way, holding a small purse. She had straightened her shoulders and her facial expression revealed nothing of her thoughts.

"I think I'm just going to take off. I have some other stuff I need to take care of, so…"

"Are you sure you have to go?" Alice asked while standing to give her a parting hug.

"Yeah, sorry. It's later than I realized." She fidgeted with the strap of her purse before resting it on her shoulder. After taking a deep breath to steel herself, she looked at Tanya with a forced smile. "Um, it was nice meeting you, Tanya. I hope you enjoy your visit. I'll see you guys later."

"Hold up, Bells. I'll walk you out," Jasper called after her before turning back to us. "I'm actually gonna head out myself. Had fun today, man. We'll have to do it again."

"Us too," Emmett said as he and Rosalie followed behind them, seeming to almost sigh in relief for the opportunity to escape.

We said our goodbyes to our friends and made tentative plans to hang out again the following day since it seemed likely that we would be entertaining Tanya. I watched from the front door as Jasper and Bella huddled into a hushed conversation out on the driveway. She appeared angry and her fury tugged at my heart in turn making me angrier at Tanya and at myself. He let her rant for a few minutes before he pulled her into a warm hug, and I was once again jealous of their easy rapport. I wanted that familiarity with her, so I vowed to myself then and there that someday I would have it. I would work for it, every day, every damn second if that's what it took. But first I would set things straight with Tanya, embracing this opportunity to move on, to move forward, before things could get any uglier.

I walked back to the living room where Tanya was waiting, oblivious to the fact that her theatrics had just chased four people out of my house. Alice walked up next to me and gave my hand a concerned squeeze, knowing in her way that I could use the extra reassurance right now. I gave her a grateful smile as she headed up to her room before I directed my attention to Tanya. I just wanted this over and done with. I took a deep breath as I walked over and kneeled in front of her. I picked up her hand knowing that a gentle approach would get me much further than if things turned confrontational between us.

"I think we need to talk." She looked at me with wide eyes, and I could see the dread swimming in their icy blue depths. Deep down she was just a scared little girl. Just as I was about to stand and lead her up to my room for some privacy, the front door flew open and my mom appeared with her cell phone pressed to her ear and in a complete state of panic.

"I can't believe this is happening. Okay, I'm at the house now. Let me ask the kids if they've heard from her." Her jaw dropped when she finally noticed who was with me. "Tanya! What on Earth are you doing here? Your parents have been calling frantically, looking for you. They're worried sick… said you were missing. How did you get here? How long have you been here?"

Before Tanya could answer her flurry of questions, she directed her attention back to the phone. "I have her, she's right here. I don't know. Yes, she seems fine. I'm so sorry. Okay, let me get to the bottom of this. I'll call you right back as soon as I find out what's going on."

She ended the call and rushed into the living room, her eyes flashing with concern and anger like I had never known. "Edward, why didn't you tell me that she was coming? We could have figured something out. You can't just run away young lady. Your poor mother is in hysterics."

"You ran away?" I gasped. I knew it. I knew it in my gut, but hearing it confirmed still rattled me. "Geez, Tanya! Something could have happened. You're thousands of miles from home. You're only seventeen. You could have been hurt, or mugged, or kidnapped."

My protective instincts kicked into high gear as I contemplated all the ways this could have gone wrong. Sure, I wanted to end our romantic relationship, but she was still my friend first. I couldn't stomach the thought of something happening to her. I couldn't believe she had made such an irrational decision without telling anyone her plan.

"Baby, I'm fine. I'm right here. Nothing happened," she appeased, not at all remorseful or repentant for what she put her family through, hugging me around the middle and kissing me anywhere she could reach.

My mom cleared her throat to get my attention and crooked an eyebrow at me, probably at the fact that my runaway girlfriend was hanging off of me and now kissing me all over my shirtless chest. I'd venture this was not something most moms were cool with. I placed my hands on Tanya's shoulders and nudged her back a bit, cocking my head towards my mom to help her catch a clue. She grinned at my mom and mouthed a 'sorry.'

"Okay, kids, why don't we go sit down and straighten this out so I can call the Denali's and put their minds at ease. Edward, perhaps you should go find yourself a shirt."

She fired off a quick message on her phone, I assumed to Mrs. Denali, while I fished my previously discarded t-shirt out of my bag. The three of us reconvened in the living room. Tanya and I sharing the sofa this time and my mom sat in the nearest chair.

"So, Tanya, why don't you start at the beginning? How did you get here?"

"Um… I flew." She took a steadying breath before continuing on in a detailed explanation. "I sort of stole my dad's credit card to book the airline ticket. Then I was able to check in online, and I had my driver's license to get through security, so no one really questioned me. I had my friend, Kate, drop me off at the airport early this morning."

"When I got here, I took a cab from the airport. It was kind of expensive, but I just wanted to surprise Edward. I didn't mean any harm, really."

She refocused her attention on me before saying, "I was so afraid you were going to break up with me. I just had this sinking feeling in my gut after our fight. I thought that if we were together, in person, maybe you would remember why we're so perfect together."

She looked so sad and on the verge of breaking down, that for the briefest moment I reconsidered whether I was making the right decision. Then I remembered the feelings that coursed through me every time I was in Bella's presence and I knew deep down inside that there was no going back. I couldn't keep up the charade and pretend to be the selfless boyfriend to Tanya anymore. Someone else had stolen my heart, and I was aching to have a chance with her.

"We'll talk later. I promise," I responded solemnly. As aggravated as I was with her and the entire situation, I still didn't relish the thought of hurting her—possibly even breaking her heart.

"Edward, you were unaware of Tanya's plans then?" my mom inquired.

"He didn't know anything, Mrs. Cullen," Tanya replied for me, at least taking full ownership for her stunt.

"Okay. Do you have a return flight?"

"No, ma'am. I didn't know… I mean I hate it… I was wondering…" she stammered, the confident manipulator from earlier long gone.

"What, Tanya? You're not making any sense."

"I was kind of hoping to stay here. For good."

My eyes probably looked like saucers at her statement, and I know my mouth was opening and closing like a fish as I tried to compose a response. My mom sat across from me mirroring my expression at Tanya's outrageous assumption. She continued on before either of us was able to find our voices.

"It's just that I hate it there without you. I always wanted out of that podunk town anyway. You live in frickin' Beverly Hills now. My neighbor is old Mrs. Zuckerman and her eight cats! Yours are celebrities and multi-millionaires! I want that. I want to be here. Can't I stay with you? Please!"

"What about your parents? Your sister? You can't just run away from your family, Tanya," my mom reasoned.

"My parents love you. They know you'll take care of me. Please let me stay, Mrs. Cullen. Please!"

"I'm sorry, dear. We do care about you and your well-being, but I just don't think that's an option. Your parents would miss you terribly, and I don't think it would be good for my son to live under the same roof as his girlfriend. As his mother, I can't and won't go along with that."

Mom stood up, signifying that this discussion was over with no room for argument. "Now, I'm going to go call your parents and hash this out. I'll let you know what we work out. For tonight, I'm afraid you'll have to sleep on the couch. I haven't had a chance to get the spare bedroom set up yet."

"I'll take the couch," I threw out there. "She can have my bed tonight." Tanya beamed at my offer, and my mom nodded at the polite suggestion.

"Okay, Edward, why don't you take Tanya's things upstairs and help her get settled in. I'll be in the study. I'll come get you for dinner. I believe you two have a lot to talk about anyway."

Not ten minutes later I was in my room changing the sheets on my bed for Tanya when she walked up behind me and wrapped her long, sinuous arms around me.

"I've missed you so much. I missed your smell, your voice… your body," she said in her best seductive tone as she dropped kisses on the back of my neck.

"Tanya…" I started as I spun around, determined to finally have the dreaded conversation with her.

"Haven't you missed me at all?"

"Of course I've missed you, but… we need to talk."

"I don't want to talk. I just want to feel."

Before I could even blink, her mouth was on mine. She thrust her tongue in my mouth and clawed at my scalp with her long nails. She tasted exactly same as I remembered, and for a moment I was lost in a familiar haze of lust. As I grabbed her hips, pulling her closer to me, I felt a niggling in the deepest reaches of my mind that this was wrong and not what I really wanted. But we were kissing and groping and I hadn't experienced the rush of pure lust in so long that I was hard-pressed to recall the reason I needed to stop. That was until she spoke up again.

"God, baby, I want you. I want to be with you so bad."

"W-what?"

"Take me."

"Whoa, hold up. Are you saying what I think your saying?"

"Yes. I've been thinking, and I think we should just do it. I want to. With you." I was stunned and instantly sobered by her request.

"I can't. Stop. We need to stop." I demanded trying to wriggle from her grasp.

"Don't stop. We should be together. It's okay. We both want this." Her voice and hands both grew more urgent as I began to pull away.

"No, I don't." I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed her back enough to look her in the eye. "I don't want this."

"It's sex, Edward. Every guy wants it."

"I don't. Not like this. Not now."

"What do you mean? What do you want?"

"To talk."

"You really do want to break up? That's it, isn't it?" She was starting to panic; I could hear it in her voice, see it on her face.

"Please sit down. Let's talk, calmly."

"Oh god! Did you meet someone? Are you already screwing someone? Did you cheat on me? Who is she? Was it that Rosalie skank? I saw how she was looking at you. She may be hot, but she's obviously a slut if she's flirting with all these guys and refuses to be in a committed relationship."

"Stop! It's not Rosalie," I yelled.

"Shit! You did meet someone…"

"I… Damn it. This isn't going at all how I wanted." I took a steadying breath and swallowed down my frustration before I started again.

"Listen, yes, I met someone that I may be interested in pursuing. But come on, Tanya, you know me. I would never cheat on you. You may not understand this right now, but you do mean a lot to me. I've been struggling with how to do this. I don't want to hurt you. I really don't."

I glanced around the room while I took a moment to compose my thoughts. "Can you please just give me a minute to get this all out? Then I will tell you anything, answer any questions. I promise."

She'd mellowed minutely from her outburst and gave me a nod to continue, so I did. I told her that I cared about her as friend, but not romantically. I explained my realization that I was never really emotionally invested in the relationship the way that she deserved, and how I thought our relationship may have developed out of convenience rather than feelings of attraction and adoration. She was quiet until I finished my spiel. When she looked up at me, I didn't see the expected hurt or sadness in her eyes, I saw anger.

"Fuck you, Edward Cullen!"

"I'm just trying to be honest with you."

"Honest! You want honest. We were good together. You and I were the king and queen of Lincoln High. You needed me just as much as I needed you. After all those pathetic girls that I kept away from you. You should be grateful to me."

Her chest was heaving with exertion, and the old saying 'if looks could kill' flitted through my mind.

"Knock, knock," my mom said as she opened the door to my room interrupting our argument. She glanced back and forth between the two of us, taking in our defensive stances.

"I just wanted to let you know that I spoke to your parents and Carlisle. Your parents are very angry, understandably so. They don't want you to miss any school over this stunt. They wanted us to put you on the first flight out tomorrow. Carlisle and I convinced them to allow you to stay for the weekend, giving everyone some time to cool off. You leave first thing Monday morning instead. Your dad already booked the ticket. Carlisle will take you to the airport on his way to work. I suggest you make the most of tomorrow, because I think it will be quite some time before you're permitted to visit again."

"Thank you, Mrs. Cullen. But it doesn't sound like I will be visiting anymore. Your perfect son here just broke up with me."

"I'm sorry to hear that, dear," my mom said, not really looking sorry at all, "but I know my son, and I'm certain he didn't make this decision lightly. Will you be okay here until Monday?"

"She'll be fine. We'll be fine."

Tanya gaped at my statement.

"You said you wanted to see the sights, right? We've been friends since we were kids, Tanya. I think we can handle a day of sightseeing together. I can invite some friends to come along if it takes the pressure off."

"Yeah. I guess that would be okay. Whatever."

That's how I found myself being dragged down Rodeo Drive behind Tanya, Rosalie, and Alice, while they engaged in some window shopping on one of the most renowned streets of Beverly Hills. Alice was less than enthused about having to spend the day with Tanya, especially after the two of us had officially split, but I swayed her with the promise of shopping—epic shopping. And shop they did. We started out at the mall a block over on Beverly Drive and ended up here. I essentially served as their bag boy for the morning, running purchases back to the car and holding their loot while they continued to browse. Of course the guys had declined the invite to keep me company during this torture, offering to meet up with us later in the day at the beach instead. Not that I blamed them. I would have done just about anything to get out of it myself, but I wasn't about to pawn Tanya completely off on my sister.

Tanya hadn't spoken to me anymore last night after our confrontation. She kicked me out of my own room and sulked for the rest of the evening instead. However, she had managed to be civil to me so far today. She had taken every opportunity to flirt with any guy that looked her way, in what I assumed was an attempt to make me jealous. Of course, with three gorgeous girls strutting down the street together, guys were destined to notice. I tried to give them space and chose to ignore her resentful efforts. She owed me nothing, and as much as I would miss her friendship, I very much doubted I would be seeing her again after her departure tomorrow.

We had lunch on the patio at Barney's at the girls' insistence, and as cliché as it seemed to me, I wasn't going to argue if it made them happy. After we were fed and the girls' declared themselves officially shopped out, we headed back to our house to drop off their purchases and change before we headed off to the legendary Venice beach.

This beach was a cultural experience. Unlike my previous two experiences of the rather private expanse of beach behind the McCarty home where we had the bonfire and the deserted beach in the early morning when we went surfing the day before, Venice beach was packed. There were street performers, artists, body builders, families with tents and umbrellas, skateboarders, beautiful people showing off for each other, more tattoos on display than I had ever seen in my life, guys playing football, kids playing volleyball, just people everywhere. This beach screamed Los Angeles. It embodied everything the area stood for.

We navigated our way through the sea of people and found a spot to spread out our beach towels. Emmett and Jasper showed up about twenty minutes after the rest of us, and I met up with them in the parking lot to help direct them back to the small plot where we had staked our claim on the golden sand. It was a warm day, and by the time we made it back to the girls they were each stretched out on their respective towels in their tiny bikinis. Even if I had to pretend to ignore what a beautiful woman my sister was becoming, I couldn't deny that the three of them truly were the epitome of beauty, basking in the heat of the afternoon sun. Of course both of the knuckle heads tagging along with me had to go and vocalize my exact thoughts, both embarrassing and flattering the girls. Tanya winked at each of them, and I did my best to brush it off without comment or acknowledgement, but I noticed Alice looked a bit irritated by her flirting with Jasper.

Emmett asked if we wanted to get a beach volleyball game going, and at first the girls declined, electing instead to rest and read their gossip rags and girly magazines. Emmett put our dibs in on the next available court and less than thirty minutes later the three of us were playing against another group of guys. Shirts came off and egos flared as we played a little three-on-three. We were each competitive in our own right, but I had never heard shit talkin' like the taunts Emmett was throwing down. Some of the lines he was tossing out there like 'Better kiss your mama at the bus stop, cause we're takin' you to school!' and 'Move it princess, you're gonna be late for the ball' were so ridiculous that Jasper and I laughed so hard that we missed our returns, allowing our opponents to score off of us. In the end, we ended up losing by a pretty wide margin.

By the time we started a second game, a small group of spectators had gathered. The girls had also made their way over to us and took up leading the crowd in cheers and heckling. When it was my turn to serve I was surprised to hear Tanya's voice hollering her approval over the cries of the crowd. I glanced over at her, hopeful that this meant we could work at remaining friends, but was greeted instead by a cheeky wink and flirtatious air kiss. I shook my head in disappointment, realizing that it wasn't about supporting a friend but an attempt to stake a claim on me in front of the other girls that had gathered near the sidelines. Her smile fell when I didn't return the affection and her face quickly clouded over with the same look of anger that I was growing accustomed to this weekend.

The game continued with all of us expending more effort showing off for the crowd than with our heads in the game. We won the second game, and rather than playing a traditional third to declare a winner we called it fair and ended with a happy win-win.

"I'm thirsty after that. I'm gonna head across the street to grab a soda, anyone want anything?" I asked.

"I'll come with," Alice offered.

We took drink orders from everyone and headed into a small market. We loaded up on waters, sodas and some snacks. Alice and I happily chatted about the craziness that was Venice Beach as we made our way back to our friends. I was busy watching my steps as I navigated around the maze of blankets, towels, umbrellas, and tents so I didn't notice what was going on back at our plot until I heard Alice curse next to me.

"What the fuck!"

"What… what's wrong?" I asked a little panicked by her outburst. She looked at me with wide eyes, before nodding her head towards our towels. I looked up to find Tanya and Jasper in a very compromising position and Emmett and Rosalie nowhere in sight. My sister looked crushed, and pure brotherly instinct took over as I made a beeline to them.

Tanya had one hand in the back of Jasper's board shorts and the other in his hair as she pulled his face to hers for a kiss. I was appalled that she would stoop so low as to make a play at one of my friends out of sheer revenge, while simultaneously getting another jab in at my sister. I was even more disgusted with Jasper. He knew how wary I was because of his history with girls, yet he'd insisted Alice was different, but it only took a day for him to destroy the understanding we'd come to. The asshole was going down.

Without another thought, I shoved them apart and began shouting expletives. Jasper yelled back that I was being ridiculous and needed to calm down. That only served to fuel my fire as pulled my fist back and let it fly right into his jaw.

"Oh, is that how it's gonna be? You're gonna fucking hit me after your whore of a girlfriend throws herself at me?"

"You son of a bitch! I can't believe you… after we talked. How could you?"

"Me! What about all the shit you're putting Bella through?"

"This isn't about her. This is about Alice! What the fuck, man?"

"You need to calm the hell down. You don't know what you're talking about."

"Fuck calm!" I launched at him again, but this time he was prepared, and after expertly deflecting my swing, he landed his own fist on my face causing my lip to split open and bleed.

"Now you listen to me! I didn't do anything. That girl, Tanya, is toxic. She came onto me seconds before you walked up. She tried to kiss me. I was trying to push her away when you barged in and tried to knock me the fuck out. That's the truth. I like Alice. It's only, Alice!"

I was stunned into silence. My sister slowly approached from behind me, her eyes welling with tears and her lip trembling. She dabbed at my lip with one of the napkins she'd grabbed at the market.

"Are you okay?" she questioned, her voice shaking with emotion. I felt horrible that I had scared her, but with the thought that Jasper may be setting her up for a repeat heartbreak after everything she had dealt with before, I reacted on instinct, taking out frustrations I wished I had taken out on someone else.

"I'll be fine," I answered.

She walked over to Jasper and without saying anything rose up on the tips of her toes and placed a chaste kiss on his jaw where I had struck. I saw a single fat tear roll down her cheek as he grinned back at her and swept her up in a hug.

I decided the least I could do to repent for my actions was give them a private moment, so I turned back to Tanya. Rather, I glared at her. I didn't even know what to say.

"Why? Why would you do that?"

She chose to ignore my question and asked one of her one.

"So, Bella, huh? The newspaper girl? Really?"

"Yeah, Bella, and she's twice the person you'll ever be. I can't believe you. I can't believe I fell for you… for this. Who are you?"

"Did you fuck her?"

"Is that all you care about anymore—sex?" She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed at my question, but didn't reply so I continued on. "No I haven't fucked her, because I don't cheat and because she's too good for that. But someday—if she still wants me after all of this—I hope to lavish her body with unspeakable affection and make love to her in ways that you can only dream about. And you will _never_ have that."

"Never have that? I don't want that. And by the way, I fucked Jared the night you left. So there, asshole!"

"You think I care. I don't give a shit who you fuck. If you want to give it away to a prick like Jared, then by all means give it away. You're not the person I thought you were. I don't know who you are, but I feel sorry for you."

Tanya didn't speak to me for the rest of the day, and I was okay with that. Part of me was sickened that things had ended on such a bad note, but mostly I just felt relief. Somewhere along the road she had changed from the sweet little girl I used to push on the swings and chase around the playground to a heartless bitch. I didn't know how to reconcile the two versions of her. All I could do was hope that someday my friend would resurface from within, before she did too much damage to herself.

She had a 6:30 a.m. flight the next morning, and my dad left to take her to the airport at 5:00 a.m. I never saw her before she left. She could have sought me out to say goodbye if she wanted to, but she clearly chose otherwise.

Alice was still upset with me for my violent reaction yesterday, and the car ride to school was plagued with tension and silence. I knew I needed to find Jasper and apologize promptly to end this standoff. Even after hearing the truth behind the compromising situation, I was still feeling a bit leery of him and protective of Alice.

When we got to school, Bella was waiting out front in her usual spot with Angela and Ben. She gave us an unsure smile as we approached. Alice instantly snapped out of her funk and bounced ahead to give both girls her customary good morning hug. Bella shot me a hesitant smile and a shy 'hi' in greeting.

"Dude, heard you and Jasper got into a bit of a scuffle yesterday," Ben taunted.

"Uh, yeah. It's kind of a long story. Everything's cool, though. I think," I replied, running a hand through my hair out of nerves at this particular topic being broached first thing in the morning.

"Oh, everything better be cool. Edward's gonna make nice, or I'm gonna kick his ass," my sister stated with a threatening pinch to my arm.

"Looks like you caught the bad end of the deal," Ben said gesturing to my now fat lip.

"Yeah, it was just a big misunderstanding," I explained away.

"Are you okay?" Bella asked with concern after our friends had gone back to talking amongst themselves.

"I'm fine. It's a just a fat lip. I'll live," I replied with a smirk in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I'm glad, but I actually meant about Tanya. You two broke up?" She looked embarrassed before she added, "Um, Alice told me on the phone last night."

"Yeah, we did, and she left this morning. Honestly, I'm just relieved it's over."

She nodded but didn't say anything as she chewed her lip, a nervous habit that I was becoming familiar with the more time I spent with her. I realized just how tired I was of seeing her so unsure, sad, or uncomfortable. It was about time for her to just be happy, and I was finally in a position to try and do something about it. I knew there were probably a hundred things I could and should say to her, things I needed to apologize for. Instead I decided to let my actions speak for me.

I closed the distance between us and pulled her into a gentle hug. She was caught off guard at first and tensed in my arms. I held onto her for a long moment waiting for her to relax into the embrace, and then she did and it was perfection. She was warm and soft, delicate and small, and fit against my body like she was cast from my exact complimenting mold. Not wanting to push my luck, I gave her a final tight squeeze before I pulled back and gave her an encouraging smile.

"May I walk you to class, _belle Bella_?"

* * *

**A/N: **So there you have it. The wicked witch is dead! Well not really, but she is on a flight back to where she came from. Next up we'll hear from Bella and find out how she's fairing after all of this. Hope this chapter lived up to your expectations. I think it's about time for our dear Edward to start redeeming himself.

The response to chapter 4 was just astounding. I get a silly grin from every single story alert and review that pops up in my inbox. Thank you all for the love your showing this story! I'm so happy we can experience this together. To answer some questions, yes I do have some experience on a surf board, but that was when I was much younger and much, much braver. On a particularly hot day, you may still catch me on a boogie board, but typically I stick to the sand now. Yes, I am a California girl, but I live in NorCal. I did go to school down in SoCal though, so I am pretty familiar with the area. I think that about covers it.

Big thank you to my beta, Hibbleton78, and pre-reader, Holly1980, for turning this chapter around swiftly and lending their advice and support. Love you!

Thanks to Sunfeathers for rec'ing "The Little Fish" on her blog this week. I grinned and blushed like an idiot. Thanks, sweetie!

In other news, I will be contributing an outtake to Fandom for Preemies. You can find out more about this cause on their blog fandomforpreemies (dot) blogspot (dot) com. For a minimum $5 donation to the March of Dimes you will receive a compilation from over 100 Twific authors. A great deal for a worthy cause! I'll post more information on my profile.

Let me know what you thought!  
Do you still want to maim Edward? Singing songs of celebration over the swift departure of Tanya?

As always, reviews get teased!


	6. I'm Happy for You Really

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its beautiful characters. This story is loosely based off of plot lines from the original Beverly Hills, 90210 TV series. I have taken many liberties with them. No infringement is intended to any media franchise. The remainder is my original work.

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**Chapter 6**

"**I'm Happy for You… Really"**

The previous week had taken a definite turn for the better since the bonfire. After I got over my initial shock and disappointment that Edward was unavailable, our friendship had progressed with a natural ease. Conversation and banter flowed freely between us, and he had quickly wormed his way into my heart. I counted him amongst my closest friends along with Angela, Jasper, and Alice. Sure, I was still attracted to him, but I'd never intended to start dating in high school anyway. So I chose to accept that he was taken and embraced our budding friendship without regret. It almost made it easier for me, taking temptation away and acknowledging that he would only ever be a friend to me.

We had so much in common that it bordered on ridiculous. His passion for writing and his plans for the future rivaled my own. We had similar tastes in music and movies. I was pleased to find that he was really down to earth, nothing like most of the guys I had become acquainted with at West Beverly. And even though I knew he came from money, there was nothing in his character that indicated that he was defined by it. His parents even had the sense to pass along one of their used vehicles to him instead of the shiny new cars that had become the standard sixteenth birthday gift around here. He had taken to parking it in the back of the lot next to my beater truck. All of this had made it unbelievably effortless for me to open up to him in ways I hadn't with my other classmates.

Our midday chats in the newspaper office were becoming my favorite part of the day. Ever since the first time he tracked me down during lunch, he had shown up faithfully and spent the entire hour holed up with me. Time always flew by too quickly for my liking as we got lost in our own bubble. Every so often our eyes would lock and my grin would melt into a shy smile, and I would once again have to shove back the feelings that welled up inside me. He was always great at breaking the resulting tension with an easy joke or teasing comment.

He had also laid off the sweet French talk and charming compliments, to both my despair and delight. I appreciated his effort to make this friendship easier on me, but I hated that he had to keep himself in check just because I'd let my fantasies run away with me. After all, I'd flirted with Jasper countless times over the years and never thought anything of it. I had let my attraction cloud my thinking, but Edward had been so gracious in not allowing me to feel embarrassed about it. I supposed when you were as gorgeous and wonderful as he was, you got used to girls swooning over you. It had even seemed as if he was feeling a tad guilty when I'd apologized for overreacting at the bonfire to the news of him having a girlfriend.

It was with a heavy dose of his encouragement and Alice's insistence that I found myself at the Cullen home the following Saturday afternoon. After admitting to Edward that I was intimidated by Rosalie and her West Beverly 'It girl' status, he had suggested that I mention my concern to Alice. She was every bit as considerate as her brother had been about my ridiculous hang-ups and practically begged me to come over for some girl time to get better acquainted with Rosalie.

"Yay! I'm so glad you're here and we get to spend the day together," Alice exclaimed, bouncing up and down clapping as soon as she answered the door.

I was instantly put at ease by her characteristic exuberance. I followed her into the living room where she had already staked out a spot for us to take over for the afternoon. She had a number of DVDs piled up on the coffee table and quite the assortment of junk food.

I took a moment to look around, noticing that a number of things had changed since my visit the prior weekend. Artwork had been hung, and a number of framed photographs and knick-knacks were scattered about. There were new window treatments and furnishings, and the living room furniture had been rearranged. If I thought the house was gorgeous before, it was nothing compared to how striking it was fully decorated.

"Wow, the house looks great. Your mom works fast."

"Yeah, I think she has a sickness. Decorating is to her what fashion is to me. It's not like there was any rush to get it done, but I don't think she's slept hardly at all this past week," she replied with a sarcastic eye-roll while rummaging through her pile of loot on the table. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go grab something chocolaty. Make yourself at home."

I giggled at her desire for even more sweets and turned to drop my purse down against the wall by the entry way. I wandered around the massive living room, taking in the various photographs scattered about. There were professional shots of the four them looking like the picture perfect family, interspersed with beautiful candids. I hadn't met their dad yet, but he was arguably the most handsome older gentleman I had ever seen. He was blond with piercing blue eyes and striking features. While both of his children had clearly taken on Esme's coloring, Edward had his exact facial structure.

I continued my perusal of wedding and baby pictures and random shots of Alice and Edward growing up. There was one of the two of them in a row boat on a lake wearing big orange life preservers, one of them sitting together on a dock with matching grins, and a whole bunch with another family. The other couple looked slightly older than the Cullens and they appeared to have two daughters. One was about the same age as Alice and Edward and the other was a couple years younger. They were both beautiful girls, but the oldest was absolutely stunning with long strawberry-blonde hair that fell in beautiful curls down her back, blue eyes that sent a shiver down my spine, and a spectacular slender figure.

I felt a pang of jealousy as I considered the possibility that this was Tanya—Edward's Tanya. There was nothing in the pictures that indicated anything more than friendship between them, but still it seemed likely that the redheaded beauty was his girlfriend. I remembered that he'd told me they had been friends since they were just little kids. This person definitely appeared to be permanently cemented into his life merely by the sheer amount of photographs that she was represented in.

I jumped away from the wall of pictures when I heard the telltale slapping of Alice's flip-flops coming towards me.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" she mumbled with a mouth full of brownie.

"Just checking out all the pretty pictures of you," I said sweetly, trying to hide my inner turmoil. She grinned at my answer and grabbed my hand pulling me over to the couch with her.

I knew I could ask her about the girl in the picture and get a straight answer, but part of me didn't want confirmation that she was indeed Edward's girlfriend. Even though I was _mostly_ over the possibility of there ever being anything between us, I liked that she was just some abstract person without a face in my head. I didn't want to be able to picture her with him. Maybe I was being ridiculous and selfish, but I didn't care. I wanted my fantasies of him to remain pure.

"Rose just sent me a text. She'll be here any minute. You wanna pick the movie?" Alice asked.

At the mention of Rosalie, I stiffened remembering the intent of this social visit. I really wanted her to like me, and not out of some superficial need to be accepted, but because of Alice. I didn't want to be the source of any tension. I avoided shallow high school drama like the plague.

I shuffled through the movies strewn out on the coffee table—all chick flicks of course—and settled on _Dirty Dancing, _forgoing some more current options for a classic. I had considered _Clueless_ for a moment, but thought better of it when I realized the parallels between Rosalie and Cher were too obvious to deny—both gorgeous blondes embracing the shallow life of high school in Beverly Hills. Yeah, that wasn't going to work. I chuckled to myself before hiding the movie at the bottom of the stash.

The incessant ringing of the doorbell pulled me from my thoughts and brought on another wave of nerves. Alice skipped over to answer the door, seemingly oblivious to my anxiety. As she opened the door, I heard the distinct low, sexy rasp of Rosalie's voice in direct contrast with the soft tinkling of Alice's.

"Woo! Girl time," Rosalie bellowed as she strutted into the living room. "Oh… hi." She stopped short when she spotted me on the couch. I understood immediately by her tone and actions that she wasn't aware that I was going to be here. I hoped it wasn't going to be an issue—for Alice's sake.

"This is my friend Bella. She's joining us for our girl bonding time," Alice said with ease.

"Right, Bella. Yeah, I've seen you around school," she replied with a cool yet casual acceptance of my presence. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. "So, what are we doing?"

"Movies and makeovers and lots of girl talk," Alice proclaimed. "What movie did you pick Bella?"

"_Dirty Dancing_… if that's okay." My voice came out sounding timid and feeble. I took a deep breath trying to force myself to relax. I was making a much bigger deal out of this than it was, and Rosalie seemed just fine.

"Oh my God! I love _Dirty Dancing_. It's so sexy. Good pick," Rosalie enthused, snatching the movie out of my grasp. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner," she quoted in a cheesy, deep voice while Alice giggled like a little girl and then screeched "Oh, Johnny!" I playfully rolled my eyes at their antics, but settled back into the couch. I could do this; it was just spending time with the girls. Truthfully, I had only ever done anything like this with Angela, and she was much mellower than these two. But still, this could be fun.

Alice loaded up the DVD and the three of us sat on the couch, Alice in the middle with Rosalie and me on either side. I watched with an amused grin as Alice began rummaging through the candy pile yet again. I couldn't stifle my giggle as she came up victorious with a bag of M&M's and Cheetos.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked while teasingly bumping me with her shoulder.

"You! How can someone so small possibly eat so much junk?"

"I know, right? I'd have to diet for a month if I ate all that," Rosalie chimed in while leaning forward to grab a pack of Skittles for herself.

"Oh shut it, both of you. I'm PMSing," Alice grouched as she tossed a white box of candy at me. They hit me square in the chest.

"Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark..." I whined while rubbing my chest before I noticed what I was holding. "Oh, Junior Mints. I love these things." Alice rolled her eyes and smirked at my sudden distraction.

"So, Alice, where's that fine ass brother of yours?" Rosalie interrupted just as the movie had started. I gulped down my irrational jealousy and resisted the urge to chime in with an answer, having already listened to Edward prattle on at length yesterday during lunch about how excited he was to go surfing with Jasper and Emmett today.

"He left early this morning to go surfing with the guys," Alice answered, her eyes flitting to mine for the briefest moment before turning back to Rosalie.

"Ah, too bad. So, does he really have a girlfriend still in Minnesota?"

"Uh, yeah… for now anyway."

"For now? What does that mean? Are they on the rocks? I say he needs to dump her ass. That boy is too gorgeous to be taken."

I listened to them go back and forth, trying in vain to disguise my interest in any bits of information that Alice may shell out. I turned my attention back to the movie as Alice began describing Tanya and her perception of her brother's relationship with the mysterious girl. I didn't want or need to hear anything more about her, as I had already heard all of this straight from Edward. I tuned them out and got lost in the world of Kellerman's resort, Johnny Castle, and ballroom dancing.

"…don't you think Bella?" My head whipped around as I heard Rosalie call my name, but only the last few words of her question registered with me.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I said Edward is too good to be taken by some chick that doesn't even live in the same state. Don't you think?"

"Um, I don't know. I mean, they've been together for a really long time. I guess I get it. I think it's sweet that he cares so much about her that he was willing to try and make it work long distance. I just hope she cares about his the same way, you know. He said she was really upset and said some pretty horrible things to him the last time they talked. I told him she was probably just missing him, but what if I was wrong." Without thinking my eyes flashed to the pictures hanging on the opposite wall. "I hope she doesn't hurt him. He's such a good guy… so sweet… and considerate… amazing really…" I didn't realize I was rambling on like a lovesick fool until Alice put her hand on my knee, gently bringing me back to reality. They were both staring at me wide-eyed after my speech.

"I didn't realize you and Edward were so _close_," Rosalie stated with an obvious emphasis on the word 'close.'

"Oh, we're not really. We're just friends, but he told me some things about her at the bonfire."

"Just friends, huh?"

"Um, yeah…" I didn't like where she was going with this.

"It doesn't really sound like you want to be just friends, Bella."

"I…" I couldn't deny it, as much as I wanted to, so I went with the simple truth. "It doesn't really matter what I want."

"Sure it does. If you like him, you should go for it. And by the way you were just prattling on about him, I think it's safe to say you like him."

"I did. Well, I guess I still do, but I'm trying not to… He has a girlfriend." I hated that I sounded so defeated.

"So what? Get him to ditch this girl and go out with you. What's the big deal? I'll help. It'll be fun," she stated matter-of-factly, so confident and assured in her statement that I envied her boldness. "You have a lot going for you. For one you're here instead of over a thousand miles away, and you guys are obviously already friends if he's spilling his guts about his girl problems to you. You just have to make yourself irresistible to him and then he'll be like putty in your hands." Of course I would never actually try to break Edward and Tanya up; it was wrong and not who I was, but she sure made it sound tempting.

"I can't do that. I just can't…" I trailed off, not knowing how to explain myself.

"Suit yourself, but if you change your mind, you come find me. Edward won't know what hit him." I smiled at her, appreciating her concern and drive to help me when earlier I wasn't even sure if she wanted to be associated with me. I popped another Junior Mint in my mouth, effectively ending our conversation, and turned my attention back to Patrick Swayze and the foxtrot.

We were all being silly singing along to "Love is Strange" and watching Johnny and Baby crawl around the dance floor when we heard a car pull up the long drive. Alice jumped up and peeked out the front window before bouncing back to her spot on the couch with a grin. She didn't say anything, but judging by her excitement we knew it meant _all_ the guys were here, not just her brother.

Moments later the boys came barreling through the door, stopping short when they spotted us… and the somewhat shocked expressions on our faces. They were shirtless—all three of them—standing before us in only their board shorts, flip flops, and sunglasses. Slowly, each of their smiles morphed into cocky grins as they realized they were being checked out. And really, they had every reason to be cocky because those boys had it going on. They were every high school girl's fantasy come true with their sculpted muscles, smooth tanned skin, messy beach hair, and patches of white sand stuck to their glorious bodies. Not to mention the beautiful faces to back it up. I watched as Edward ran one hand through his crazy bronze hair while his other travelled down the length of his torso landing on his hip where his shorts were barely clinging to him. I blushed madly when he noticed me staring and tried to say 'hi' but I think it may have came across as just a squeak.

"Hot damn!" Rose blurted as she jumped up off the couch to snap a picture of the guys with her cell phone, interrupting the rather tense moment of blatant ogling that was taking place. We all burst into giggles at her bravado. Emmett jumped into action, clowning around and posing for her, and she seemed to thoroughly enjoy his display. Alice and Jasper were making eyes at each other, and Edward was standing off the side looking slightly nervous, rubbing the back of his neck. I smiled at him in a way that I hoped conveyed only friendship and not the insane attraction and pull I felt toward him. I made an effort to keep my eyes on his and not allow them to peruse his body again. When I couldn't take it any longer I pretended to watch the show Emmett was putting on and tried to ignore my body's reaction to the beautiful boy standing next to me.

The guys eventually disappeared into the kitchen to scrounge up some lunch, and Alice and Rose immediately launched into a flurry of excited banter about how cute the boys were and who was checking out whom. When I started to say something about Jasper eyeing her I was immediately shushed.

"Shh! He could hear you," Alice whisper-yelled at me. "Come on. Let's go upstairs for some girl talk." The three of us grabbed as much junk food as we could carry and darted up the stairs, giggling the whole way.

"Oh my god. That boy is trying to kill me! You could crack an egg on Emmett's abs," Rose exclaimed as soon as we were in the safety of Alice's bedroom.

"Did you see Jasper? How is it even possible to look that ripped and still be so thin? That man is perfection. Gah! And that surfer boy hair he's rockin'. I just…"

"Jeez, Bella. You forgot to mention that Edward was already vying for your attention. I think you already have this one in the bag. You don't even need our help." Rose giggled, but her words caught me off guard.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, don't play coy. That boy couldn't take his eyes off you. Not to sound conceited or anything, but I can pretty much get the attention of any guy I want, but Edward has _never_ looked at me like that. And believe me when I say I've tried." From anybody else, it would've sounded arrogant, and while it was still a bit odd and maybe even rude, coming from Rose it was merely the truth. She was beautiful—stunning really—and she knew it, just like the rest of us. After all, it was common knowledge as West Beverly that she had landed her first modeling contract when she was only fifteen.

I knew I could never compete with a girl like her, so her perception of the situation threw me. Did Edward seem interested in me? I doubted it, and as much as I wanted to believe her words I knew I couldn't risk getting my hopes up again. I repeated my new, trusty mantra 'he has a girlfriend, he has a girlfriend' over and over in my head to keep myself grounded in reality.

Alice had remained oddly quiet while Rose grilled me, but I didn't question it. I knew it was probably awkward for her to listen to us fawn over her brother. I had already confessed my attraction to him, and I was sure Rose and I weren't the only girls she had to hear it from. I cared about Alice and valued our friendship. I didn't want her to get the impression that I was just after her brother, so I chose to ignore Rose's observations and change the subject.

"We're just friends, Rose, really. Now Jasper and Alice on the other hand…" I turned my attention from Rose to Alice. "Girl, you two have got it bad."

"No kidding. They were totally eye-fucking each back there," Rose chimed in.

"Oh, stuff it, Rose. Like you weren't eye-fucking Emmett?"

"Of course I was. That man is good enough to eat." We all laughed and continued on with the lighter banter. The girls were kind enough to drop the subject of Edward for me in favor of gushing over their own crushes. Rose regaled us with hilarious stories of Emmett's many failed attempts to win her over and make her his girlfriend. We laughed at her persistent claim that she wasn't interested in having a boyfriend, even though it was painfully obvious that she was completely smitten by him. I smiled at her stories because we were completely different people from different worlds, yet sort of the same. I'd never had any interest in having a boyfriend myself; of course, I also didn't have boys knocking down my door the way she did.

After we exhausted the topic of guys, we began discussing what we wanted to do next. Rose wanted to go hang out by the Cullen's pool and Alice was trying to convince us to do makeovers. I had a feeling both ideas had more to do with parading ourselves in front of the guys downstairs than anything else.

All plans were foiled when the doorbell rang and we heard Edward yell for Alice to get it. She ignored him for a moment, but when we heard the bell ring again she pushed herself up off the bed and trudged out of her bedroom cursing under her breath. Rose and I chuckled at her despondency and followed after her. I heard Alice ask Edward who it was while still making her way down the stairs.

After that, everything came crashing down around me in a blur. One minute we were happy, giggly, and goofing around, then the next Alice was in a tizzy and Edward was holding onto a beautiful, crying redhead. The same redhead from the photographs.

I froze in my spot as I witnessed the intimate exchange between Edward and his girlfriend first hand, a nightmare unfolding before my very eyes. I wished for the ground to swallow me up so that I could disappear and sulk in privacy. I saw her hands on his bare chest, his thumbs swiping away the traces of her tears, her lips pressed to his perfect jaw, his arms cradling her body. They were so familiar with each other, so close. As much as I'd convinced myself that I would be okay and get over my crush, the reality of seeing him with her was almost too much for me to bear.

I had to focus, gain control of my emotions before I lost it entirely and made a fool of myself. I backed up against the wall in a vain attempt to become invisible and concentrated on the grout lines of the tile floor. I couldn't look at anyone, too afraid that they would be able to see right through me. I listened as Alice questioned the girl's visit and Edward attempted to keep the peace. Then _she_ spoke up, introducing herself to the group as Tanya… as Edward's girlfriend. And there it was, the confirmation that I never wanted. It was all I could do just to look up and acknowledge her presence.

Then Alice suggested that we all go to the living room and get acquainted, when all I wanted to do was escape. I knew it made me weak, but I couldn't handle seeing them together. It was too much. Suddenly I was angry at Edward for ever letting me think that he was single, because I knew these feelings never would have gotten out of control if I'd known from the beginning that he had a girlfriend. I embraced the anger that I'd managed to tamp down until now; it was easier than the hurt at this very moment.

Jasper eyed me curiously, so I took advantage and let him be my rock to help me get through this until I could find an excuse to bolt. I walked over to him and rested my head on his shoulder. He immediately wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into his side just like I knew he would.

He was my security, as he had been countless times before. I wondered if he even knew how significant he was to me, the brother I never had. He pulled me down onto the couch next to him and kept his arm around me. I could feel his eyes studying me for any signs of distress. I don't know how he knew of my feelings for Edward, but it was glaringly obvious that he did.

Edward's voice cracked as he formally introduced Tanya. I wasn't sure if it was because he was overcome with emotion at having her here or just uncomfortable to have an audience for their reunion. Alice took over the introductions and I did my best to smile politely and give Tanya a tiny wave. Jasper squeezed my shoulder in reassurance and I relaxed against him.

Edward kept the conversation casual, telling her about his experience surfing, and I noticed she had a tendency to dominate conversation rather than listen. I remained quiet having nothing to add until Alice mentioned Edward's position on the school paper. I smiled proudly as I thought about how far his raw talent could take him if he pursued a career in journalism, but my pride quickly turned to shock with Tanya's outburst that his involvement would make him look like a geek. My earlier anger began to soften into concern at the wounded look on his face.

How could his longtime girlfriend not recognize his talent? How could she not support him in his dreams? How could she care more about appearances than who he really was? More importantly, how could he be in a relationship with someone that treated his so poorly?

Things continued to devolve from there. The tension in the room was palpable after their confrontation, and Edward kept a noticeable distance between himself and Tanya, which admittedly lifted my spirits. But Tanya couldn't stop there. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she harbored some sort of jealousy or resentment when she turned her attack on Alice with a passive-aggressive dig about her relationship status, something that Jasper not so subtly hinted would change in the near future. Alice's answering smile let us know that she was okay.

Finally, everything came crashing in when Tanya and Rose went head to head. I couldn't hold in my giggle at Rose's comment about how she 'doesn't do boyfriends' and 'it's a personal choice every girl has to make.' She had no qualms about putting Tanya in her place, and I was grateful to be on her good side. She boldly rebutted her threats and made it known that she found Edward attractive as did most of the student body at West Beverly.

Tanya's retort made my stomach drop. "Baby, have you been dazzling all the poor girls already? You're too nice for your own good. They're all going to think you're flirting with them. You don't want to lead on some pathetic girl and end up with a crazy stalker."

Edward's eyes widened for a split second before they flitted to me. I felt like the floor had dropped underneath me. I was that pathetic girl. I was the one that stupidly thought this amazing guy was actually flirting with me. I couldn't handle it. I needed an escape, a moment to compose myself.

"Um, excuse me. I need to use the restroom," I stated politely, trying to keep my voice steady. I refused to make eye contact with anyone as I slid out of the room and headed towards the downstairs powder room off the main entry way. At the last minute, I walked back to the front door to grab my purse, wanting my compact in case I was unsuccessful at keeping the angry tears at bay.

"See what I mean!" I heard Tanya exclaim. I could hear Edward mumbling something to her. I remained quiet and hidden from their view as I stood by the door knowing in my gut that she was talking about me.

"That girl totally likes you. It's so obvious. How many more of these silly girls do you have following you around already? Don't they know you're way out their league?" Then she started laughing. She was actually laughing at my misery. "Alice and I used to keep a tally of his groupies. What did you call them? Oh yeah, the Edward Cullen Fan Club." This was great; I was just a joke to her.

"Tanya! Stop already. Just stop," Edward hollered, finally ending her tirade.

I had to get away from her and this precarious situation. I stepped from behind the dividing wall into the center of the archway separating the entryway and living room and quietly cleared my throat to make my presence known. Edward looked horrified when he saw me, but I kept a blank mask of indifference on my face. If I let him know that I had heard their entire conversation I wouldn't be able to control my emotions.

"I think I'm just going to take off," I said carefully. "I have some other stuff I need to take care of, so…" I trailed off.

"Are you sure you have to go?" Alice asked with concern. She walked over and pulled me into a tight hug. I swallowed back the emotion her kindness brought to the surface. I wouldn't let Tanya or Edward see my pain.

"Yeah, sorry. It's later than I realized." I lied.

I took a deep breath to steel myself and plastered a fake smile on my face before turning to the girl that just made me feel like the complete idiot. "Um, it was nice meeting you, Tanya. I hope you enjoy your visit. I'll see you guys later."

"Hold up, Bells. I'll walk you out," Jasper called after me. I paused in place waiting for him but didn't look back. I was focused solely on my much needed escape.

Jasper was quiet as he walked beside me, but his eyes communicated what his words couldn't. He knew. Somehow he knew I had feelings for Edward, no matter how hard I had tried to disguise them from the world—from myself.

"Are you okay?" he asked, toeing the ground with his flip flop, his unwavering gaze trained on me.

"Yes… No… God, I'm such an idiot. I knew he had a girlfriend and still…" I trailed off not knowing how to best voice my frustration. "And of course she has to be a goddamn super model. What the hell was I thinking?"

"You like him, it's not a crime. And you're definitely not an idiot. I think you're about as far from idiot as a person can be."

"Really? Because I think Tanya clearly pointed out just how far off base I am," I rambled, growing progressively louder as my anger increased. "Pathetic. That's what she said. And you know what? She's right. I knew, and still I feel shocked and upset and just… it hurts."

Jasper wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a familiar, brotherly hug. His embrace soothed my anger and filled me with his concern.

"I don't want to feel this way. I really don't. I swear, I don't want to like him, but I can't make it go away. Please, tell me how to make it stop," I pleaded with him as angry tears welled up in my eyes.

"Ah hell, don't cry, Bells. You know I can't handle the tears." He held me tighter as my emotions threatened to take over. "Now you listen to me. You are a beautiful, smart, witty, real girl. Any guy would be lucky to have you. Present company included. If Cullen can't see that, then he doesn't deserve you. And Tanya… well that girl is about as superficial as they come. If that's what he wants, then it's his loss, not yours."

I sniffled into his shirt as continued to hold me. "Thank you, Jasper."

"Anytime… I love you, Bells. If you want me to kick his ass, you just tell me."

I drove home in a fog, unsure of how I even made it there safely. My dad was just getting out of his work truck as I pulled up into the drive way.

"Hi, Bells. Have a good time with your friends today?" he asked as we walked up the front steps of our home together.

"Um, yeah. We had fun. Just hung out and did girl stuff." I tried to keep a smile on my face as I spoke to him, but it felt forced.

"That's good. That's real good." He said as we entered the house together. Dad immediately wandered into the kitchen, no doubt searching out some form of sustenance.

"Do you want me to make you something to eat, Dad?"

"Maybe. What are you in the mood for?"

"I'm actually not very hungry. I kind of have a headache, but I don't mind making you something." It wasn't a complete lie. My head was pounding, but more than anything I just felt ill with anger, hurt, sadness, and humiliation. Food did not sound good right now.

"Oh, well I can manage to scrounge myself up some dinner if you're not feeling well. Why don't you go lay down?"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. I'm not completely incapable," he replied with a smirk. I nodded and turned to leave before he called after me.

"Hey, Bells, are you okay? I mean, I know you're not feeling good, but is there something bothering you? You seem kind of tense." My dad was more perceptive than I gave him credit for, but I really didn't feel like talking about being called out on my pathetic crush, if that was even the right word for it.

"I'm fine, Dad, it's just a headache… really." He looked leery for a moment but nodded his acceptance and told me to have a good night.

I trudged up to my bedroom and sat on my bed. Being alone with my thoughts made it too easy to over think everything. I decided that keeping myself distracted was the best plan of action for the time being. I picked up the book we were reading for English class and began to thumb through it, but I couldn't get into it. I tossed the book to the side and instead fired up my computer to check my email and work on some homework. My head was still pounding, but I refused to give in to the pain. Not yet at least, so I pushed forward with keeping myself occupied.

When my email popped up, I noticed I had friend requests on Facebook from both Alice and Edward. I knew I should ignore them for the time being, considering the disastrous events of the day, but like a masochistic fool I clicked on the link to his profile.

I found myself involuntarily smiling as I gazed at his picture. His hair was in a near constant state of perfect disarray; the bronze color competing with the verdant green of his eyes that appeared to be smiling back at me. The narrow bridge of his nose, his sculpted cheek bones, and strong jaw line all a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon's dream. And his lips—his beautiful pouty lips—my fingers caressed over my own as I imagined his pressed against mine. Would they be soft and pliable or firm and unyielding? I allowed myself to get lost in the daydream for a moment until my eyes slid further down the page to his relationship status. There it was in black and white.

**In a relationship with Tanya Denali**

I stared at her name, willing it to magically disappear, before I gave in and turned off my monitor. I sat staring at the blackened screen, unsure of how to process the emotional storm inside of me. There was anger at Edward that he hadn't told me sooner he was unavailable and had seemingly led me on. Anger at Tanya for being so damn insensitive and rude. There was deep hurt that the first time I ever had feelings for someone they weren't reciprocated. And finally, there was sadness. I was so very sad, because the truth was it wasn't anyone else's fault, not Edward's and certainly not Tanya's, no matter how much of a bitch she may have been. I had let myself fall for him, and I had let myself get swept away.

I pulled myself over to the bed and collapsed in a heap on top of it. Unable to control my emotions for a second longer, I allowed the tears to come. I sniffled into my pillow as I remembered her hands and lips on him. I stifled a sob as I recalled her harsh, inconsiderate words and the way she belittled him for pursuing writing like it was the kiss of death to his social status. And I cried even harder when I imagined what they might be doing that very moment. Had they made up? Was he holding her? Were they kissing? Had clothes been shed in their passionate haste to become reacquainted intimately? I let the tears stream down my face. They were cathartic, my only release from the pain.

I eventually fell into a fitful sleep where I dreamed of a perfect world where Edward wanted me too. He had a proud smile on his face as he wrapped me up in his embrace. He whispered sweet nothings in French into my ear and told me he had never loved another the way he loved me.

I woke up with an even worse headache, puffy eyes, and a stuffy nose. My crying fit may have been therapeutic the night before, but I was paying for it now. I crept across the hall and into the bathroom to take care of business and shower. I let the hot water cascade over me and melt away the lingering ache and tension. I got dressed in a pair of sweats and a comfy t-shirt having zero interest in interacting with the outside world.

I made my way downstairs in a desperate search of coffee and some Tylenol. Dad was already sitting at the table reading the Sunday paper when I entered the kitchen. He looked up with concerned eyes as I shuffled into the room and over to the fresh pot of coffee.

"Morning, kiddo. How're you feeling?"

"I'm fine," I sniffed out, but it was the first time I had spoken all day and my voice came out rough and nasally.

"You sound like you might be coming down with a cold."

"Yeah, maybe." I sniffed again for good measure. Not that I wanted to be deceptive, but it was easier to go along with being sick than talking about what was really bothering me. "What do you have planned today?"

"I was just going to do some routine lawn maintenance for some of my regular clients. Nothing major. I can stay home if you need me to."

"No, you should go. I'll be fine. I'm just going to study for a test in French class, and maybe get some rest."

"Okay, if you're sure." I nodded but didn't say anything further. Dad went about gathering up his stuff so he could head off to work. I spaced out twirling my spoon in my coffee and watching the creamer make little swirls. I was momentarily startled when warm, heavy hand landed on my shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze.

"Bells, I know I'm no replacement for your mom… but you know you can talk to me about anything right?" His tender words made me realize that I wasn't fooling anyone. I looked up at him and saw so much love shining back at me in his eyes that mine immediately welled up again.

"I know, Dad," I replied, nodding my head. "It's just… I don't even understand what's going on."

"Ah, honey, what's wrong?" When I was unable to respond, he mistook my silence to mean I didn't want to speak to him about this. "Listen, I'm really sorry your mom isn't here for you. I'm sure it would be much easier for you to open up to a woman than your old man, but I promise to never judge. I'm so proud of you, Bells. Proud of the young woman you've become and all the things I know you'll accomplish in your life time. You've made raising a daughter so easy on me and you've been surprisingly non-whiny for a teenage girl. If there's something you need or if something's wrong, please let me help you." He wrapped his arms around me in a fatherly hug and I cried quietly into his shirt until I could regain my composure.

I pulled back and looked up at him. He appeared consumed with guilt and concern for me. "Dad… you know you have to stop apologizing for mom leaving. She left us both." I had never seen my dad cry, but at my words his eyes glistened with his own unshed tears and the sight nearly broke my heart. He took his seat across from me at the table and reached over to place his hand on top of mine.

"Did something happen yesterday, Bells? Did someone hurt you or say something to you?"

"No, nothing like that. Well, kind of…"

"Is this about a boy?" he asked, looking very nervous.

"Yes," I whispered.

"Okay… I knew this would happen sooner or later. Are you… I mean, did you… Are you and this boy physically involved?" I gasped suddenly understanding what he thought had happened.

"No! It's nothing like that. I'm not with anyone, and I've never been with anyone," I rushed out.

"Oh, thank god. Okay, then what's the problem?"

"The problem is I like this guy, Edward, but he already has a girlfriend so I've been trying not to like him, but I don't know how to stop. Then I met his girlfriend yesterday and she said I was pathetic and he was out of my league, and the thing is I know she's right. And now everyone knows I have a crush on this guy, and I just feel stupid for falling into this high school drama. I mean, I've managed to avoid it for this long, and then this guy comes along and screws it all up." When I looked up my dad was smirking at me. "What are you smiling about? I'm baring my soul here." He started cracking up at my smartass remark, and soon I joined him in his laughter.

"I'm sorry, Bells. I don't mean to laugh at you… it's just, that may be the first time you have ever sounded like a teenage girl. I kind of like it. I feel more like a dad right now."

"Oh, can it."

"In all seriousness, I'm sorry you're going through this, but relationships and all the pain that comes with them are part of growing up. They help shape you into a better person and make you stronger." His tone switched from serious to sarcastic as he continued on. "Also, I think this Edward character sounds like a dumbass. I don't think you should give him the time of day, but don't worry too much. I have a feeling he'll realize the error of his ways soon enough."

"Thanks, Dad. That was actually really great advice."

Dad fought with me about taking the day off so he wouldn't feel guilty about leaving his emo daughter home alone all day. In the end, I won and waved him off as he backed his work truck out of the drive way.

I was sitting on the couch sipping my Diet Sunkist and staring mindlessly at my notes from French class when my cell phone chimed with a text message from Alice.

**Shopping Rodeo Dr today. Please come & save me from spending the day with HER. 3, A**

**Sorry. Have a lot to do today. Maybe another time. Have fun! -B**

It wasn't a complete lie. I did have a test to study for, but mostly I just didn't want to face Tanya again—ever if I could help it.

**Sorry about yesterday. I'll call you tonight. 3, A**

I spent the day lazing around, doing minimal laundry and housework and attempting to study for my dreaded French test. I tried not to think about my friends together having fun or about Tanya and Edward enjoying each other. I called Angela and told her all about Tanya and how horribly the previous day had gone. She offered me cheerful words of encouragement and distracted me from my self-imposed day of pathetic wallowing.

My dad came home in the early evening and I made a tasty dinner of chicken tacos for us. He insisted that we watch old sitcom reruns together instead of the Dodgers game that was on. I figured he wanted to spend time with me because he was concerned about my emotional breakdown earlier. I happily indulged him, welcoming the distraction from my thoughts.

When I went up to my room later to make sure that I had everything ready for school in the morning, I noticed that I had four missed calls on my cell, all from Alice. I closed my door and reclined against the headboard of my bed before calling her back.

"Oh my god, Bella, where have you been? I've been trying to get a hold of you all night," she blurted after only one ring.

"Hi, sorry, I was spending some time with my dad. I left my phone up in my room, so I didn't hear it."

"It's okay. I just have so much to tell you. I don't even know where to start." She was talking so fast, I could hardly keep up. "I kissed Jasper! Well, it was only on the cheek, but still. And he said I was the only one for him and hugged me. Like, really hugged me! It was so amazing, Bella. And Edward totally broke up with Tanya. She's leaving in the morning. They are finally over, I mean, like, really over. They aren't even speaking. She told him that she slept with Riley after he left. I can't even believe that, the guy was a total douche. Oh, and Jasper and Edward got into a fight at the beach. That bitch totally tried to force herself on Jasper and Edward went all 'big brother' on him. Jasper has a black eye and Edward has split lip. And—"

"Whoa! Slow down… They broke up? And when did you work up the nerve to kiss Jasper?"

She started over at the beginning and recounted in detail the events from the day. My heart ached as she explained to me that Edward had in fact broken up with Tanya on Saturday night after everyone left. Here I was crying my eyes out over something that was never mine while he was suffering the loss of a lifelong relationship.

She went on to tell me that he had been trying to contact Tanya for the last week to break things off with her, but she hadn't returned his calls. Instead she had run away from home and caught him off guard with her visit. I felt like a jerk for being so focused on my own feelings and issues that I didn't notice his struggles.

I slept even worse that night, worried that I had somehow failed Edward the previous week when he really needed a friend to confide in. I made an effort to get to school early the next day so I wouldn't miss him before class. I waited with Ben and Angela for the Cullens to arrive. I briefly recounted what I knew of what had happened to them, but Jasper had already filled Ben in on most of the details.

When they arrived, Alice looked perturbed, but snapped out of it as soon as she spotted us. She greeted us with hugs and asked if we had seen Jasper yet. I informed her that he rarely made it to school on time let alone early.

Ben taunted Edward about this fight with Jasper, and Alice threatened him to be on his best behavior at school. Edward looked uncomfortable with their teasing. I watched as he ran his hands through his hair in what I had come to recognize as a nervous habit. I studied his face while he dealt with our friends' inquisition, answering their questions as vaguely as he could get away with. His jaw was lightly bruised and his bottom lip was swollen and split on the left side, and those were just his physical injuries. His eyes told of an uncertainty and pain that I had no way to understand. I wanted to reach out and touch him, just to reassure myself that he was okay. Instead, I settled on asking him.

"I'm fine. It's a just a fat lip. I'll live," he replied with a shy smirk.

"I'm glad, but I actually meant about Tanya. You two broke up?" I realized that he may not know how I was aware of this bit of information so I clarified, "Um, Alice told me on the phone last night."

"Yeah, we did, and she left this morning. Honestly, I'm just relieved it's over."

I nodded at his answer, and an uncomfortable silence surrounded us as I struggled with how to proceed. What do you say to the guy you can't stop thinking about, when you find out that he just lost his girlfriend and lifelong friend? Sorry seemed too trivial and not entirely true.

I was caught off guard when suddenly I was engulfed in the warmth of his arms. It took me a moment to realize that he was actually hugging me, and that I wasn't just daydreaming again. Slowly I relaxed into his embrace and wrapped my arms around his waist. I enjoyed the feeling of his arms surrounding me, strong and secure. I could hear his heart beating in his chest where he held my head against him, and felt his hot breath in my hair where his cheek rested on the top of my head. I breathed him in, trying to memorize his scent and everything about this perfect moment. After a long minute, he gave me a final tight squeeze and then released me.

When I stepped away from him all the previous turmoil and hurt in his eyes was replaced with a look of determination and hope. He gave me a sweet smile and then asked me a question that made my heart stutter.

"May I walk you to class, _belle Bella_?"

I couldn't answer, as much as I wanted to, afraid that my voice would come out sounding like the lovesick fool that I was. Instead, I nodded at him and turned towards the main building where my English class was. Edward fell in step with me, and just as I was about to reach out to open the door to enter, he stepped around me and held it open like the perfect gentleman. His hand landed on the small of my back as he ushered me in, but he didn't remove it after we were securely in the hallway of the school building. Our pace slowed as we approached my classroom, and he began to rub gentle circles on my lower back.

My mind reeled with the implications of his actions. Did he just need the reassurance of a friend after everything he had been through? Did this mean something more for us? Did I even want it to? He interrupted my thoughts when we came to a halt outside the classroom door.

"Well, I guess I'll see you at lunch. Same place?"

"Actually, I think I'll join everyone outside today." I replied, deciding it was safer to be among the masses than alone with him while I was still processing my feelings and he was recovering from a nasty break up.

"Sounds good."

Angela questioned me as soon as she got to class, but I brushed her off realizing that I going down a dangerous path of letting myself get swept away by Edward again. I didn't know where his head was, but I didn't want to play games and I didn't want to get hurt. By the time lunch rolled around, I was back to being frustrated by my confusion at the situation. I was quiet and closed off, choosing to work on school work during the break even though I did sit outside with everyone as promised. I could tell my distance was worrying my friends, but I couldn't be bothered to care. Even Jasper, who was wearing a ball cap and sunglasses to conceal his black eye, kept casting me wary looks.

Edward tried repeatedly to bring me into the conversation, but I shut him down at every chance. I kept my distance from him during Journalism, and I could tell by the hurt expression he wore that my attitude was having an effect on him. Ben even tried to say something to me about it, but I brushed him off as well.

The day had grown progressively worse and finally concluded with the dreaded French test. Of course Edward was finished before the bell rang and the teacher dismissed him to leave early. It was just as well. My mood was sullen already, and struggling to keep up my grade in this class only added to it. I reluctantly handed in my test after the teacher called out 'pencils down.' I trudged out of the room and made my way to my locker to grab the books I needed. Along the way, I debated calling in sick to work so I could just go home and go to bed. All the fight had left my body hours ago and the emotional rollercoaster of the past few days was taking a toll. I needed rest.

As I approached my locker I saw the beautiful boy that occupied my every thought leaning against it, waiting for me. I walked up to him slowly, once again feeling bad for the hot and cold act that I was treating him with all afternoon.

"Hi," I said quietly.

"Hey. So… how do you think you did you do on the test?" he asked carefully, as if he was afraid I might break if he said the wrong thing.

"I'm going to guess not so good. I hate French. Or French hates me. I can't decide." He smirked at my dry humor. "How did you do?"

"Um… pretty good, I think."

"Of course. You're practically the teacher's pet. Where did you learn to speak French anyway?"

"My mom. Her family is French Canadian."

"I see. Another piece of the puzzle falls into place."

"You find me puzzling?" He looked amused by this concept.

"A little bit, yeah. I don't know why, but everything new I learn about you surprises me."

"Huh. I don't mean to be puzzling. I'm an open book. You can ask me anything you want."

"Really?"

"Sure. Ask away."

"Could you tutor me in French?"

"That's not really a personal question."

"I know, but it's an important question."

"Okay, sure."

"Sure, you'll help tutor me? Or sure that's an important question?"

"Both."

"Really?"

"Of course. I would love to help you, Bella. It would be my honor."

"I don't want to be an inconvenience or anything."

"J'utiliserais n'importe quelle excuse pour passer plus de temps avec vous."

"Um… okay?" His raucous laughter could probably be heard throughout the entire campus.

"This is going to be fun," he said to no one in particular. I attempted to playfully punch him in the arm for making fun of me, but he caught my fist in his hand and smirked. After I swapped out the books that I needed from my locker we walked together out to our vehicles. Half way to the parking lot he slung his arm around my shoulders, and I let him. It felt good there.

xxx

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**French Translation:**  
"J'utiliserais n'importe quelle excuse pour passer plus de temps avec vous." - "I would use any excuse to spend more time with you."

**A/N: **Okay, I'll be the first to admit that BPOV was a little heartbreaking. But we ended on a happy note right? Don't worry, they'll get their acts together soon enough. We have a lot of fun times coming up, but I think Edward needs to work for it a little (or a lot) after that massive headache he caused.

Wow! TLF passed 100 reviews just this morning, and the number of story alerts after last chapter doubled. I am blown away by the welcoming response this story has received. It really is a blast to write, and I'm so happy you're all enjoying it as much as I am. Thank you for taking the time to read, comment, and review. I appreciate it more than you know.

This story was also recently reviewed and rec'd by ginginlee on TwiFic Promotions. She's been a faithful reader for some time now and I just love her to pieces. Check out their blog www(dot)twi-ficpromotions(dot)blogspot(dot)com for more recs of new or underappreciated fics.

Big smooshy hugs and epic thank you to my beta, Hibbleton78, and pre-reader, Holly1980, for turning this chapter around swiftly and lending me their invaluable advice and support.

Quick reminder that I contributed a Jasper/Bella outtake from TLF to the Fandom for Preemies compilation. You can find out more about this cause on their blog fandomforpreemies(dot)blogspot(dot)com. For a minimum $5 donation to the March of Dimes you will receive a compilation from 103 fanfic authors. A great deal for a worthy cause! More information is available on my profile.

Let me know what you thought! We have lots of groveling coming up…  
As always, reviews get teased.


	7. Sweating it Out

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its beautiful characters. This story is loosely based off of plot lines from the original Beverly Hills, 90210 TV series. I have taken many liberties with them. No infringement is intended to any media franchise. The remainder is my original work.

* * *

**_Previously on The Little Fish:  
_**_"I see. Another piece of the puzzle falls into place."  
__"You find me puzzling?" He looked amused by this concept.  
__"A little bit, yeah. I don't know why, but everything new I learn about you surprises me."  
__"Huh. I don't mean to be puzzling. I'm an open book. You can ask me anything you want."_

**Chapter 7  
"Sweating it Out"**

"So what else about me has puzzled or surprised you?" I asked, using her words from our conversation a week ago.

"What?" she asked, looking caught off guard by my question before she turned her focus back on her textbook and began fidgeting uncomfortably with the edge of the pages. "Umm… We're supposed to be studying. I really don't understand why the French insist on using so many accent marks," she said, trying to change the subject.

"Bella," I said, drawing out her name and whining playfully, "Please tell me. I wanna know." We were seated next to each other at a large rectangular table in the local public library branch that I'd only recently discovered Bella worked at three nights a week. It was close to school and her suggestion for a meeting place for me to tutor her in French. I had offered up my house and even suggested going to hers if she was more comfortable, but she had declined and I was really in no position to refute her. If this was the only way I could spend additional time with her, I would take it, simple as that.

It had been just over a week since Tanya had boarded a plane and flown out of my life—for good. After her betrayal, I didn't see any chance or reason for us to even attempt a friendship. She was my past, and my only hope for her was that she would straighten out her priorities before she got herself irreparably hurt. But she wasn't my concern now; Bella was, along with the heartache I knew the past couple weeks had caused her. It was time to set things right, grovel, and woo her as Alice had put it.

Bella had been keeping her distance from me, and I understood and did my best to respect her need for both time and space, but I also wanted an opportunity to apologize and discuss everything that had happened. She hadn't given me that. Instead, she'd stayed diligently focused on the task at hand, throwing herself wholeheartedly back into her school work and _The Blaze_. She was dedicated to a fault, though in this instance I suspected it was somewhat intentional.

We spent very little time alone together any more. She no longer hung out in the newspaper office at lunch, and it didn't take long for me to realize that it was likely because she didn't want to be trapped by herself with me. I assumed the only reason she even granted me the few tutoring sessions was because she was so focused on maintaining her grade. We were still friendly, though, and got along well enough when our friends were present, and for that I was grateful.

There were still a few bright moments between us. Unable to control myself, I had found excuses to reach out and touch her a few times. Nothing too forward, just putting my arm around her or gently touching the small of her back whenever I could justify it. Those seemingly insignificant moments were heaven to me. For the most part, she had been accepting of my gestures, but it only took one time of her flinching away when I'd reached out to brush a wayward lock of hair from her face while she was writing out her French homework for me to stop completely. The confused look she gave me was enough to bring me to my knees and beg her forgiveness, but before I had a chance to, she had mechanically redirected us back to her school work. The prospect of experiencing the sting of rejection again was enough to keep me from trying anything further.

"You really want to know?" she finally asked, rightfully assuming I wasn't going to let the subject drop since I was still staring at her.

"Yeah, I do."

"Okay, fine. Let's see… The first time we met I was surprised that a guy like you would even take the time to stop and help me or talk to me."

"What do you mean… a guy like me?"

"You know… cute and popular. The whole school was talking about you on your first day. You had the entire female population in a tizzy."

"So… You think I'm cute?" I asked brazenly, fighting back the shit-eating grin threatening to escape and maybe a fist pump.

"Oh, shut up. I'm not stroking your ego for you. Let's get back to work."

"I'm only teasing. So, you were surprised that I was nice?" I clarified, genuinely confused by her statement.

"Well, yeah. I mean… I know you heard what Lauren and Jessica said about me, but you still took the time to help me. Most guys around here wouldn't have bothered—not for me." I didn't like her tone one bit. She sounded so factual, as if she was just accepting of people ignoring her or thinking she was beneath them. I wanted the chance to prove her wrong.

"Well, that doesn't speak very highly of the general male population at school," I said in an attempt to lighten the mood, she huffed a small laugh in reply. "What else?"

"I was taken aback when I found out that you were joining the school paper, and then pleasantly surprised when I read your writing. You're so talented, and… I know it's stereotyping, but I honestly thought you would be… well, more of a jock, I guess. Sorry."

"No, it's okay. I get it. Anything else?"

"Um, just the big one… When I found out about Tanya..." she trailed off, staring blankly down at the table. That was the punch to my gut that I had been expecting since I started in on this line of questioning, but I knew we needed to talk it through.

"Bella, I…" I started and stopped trying to organize my thoughts, knowing I would likely only have this one opportunity to get everything out and in the open. "You have to know how sorry I am that you found out like that, and not from me. I know I should've told you from the beginning, but things with you… It wasn't fair to you. I know I was sending you mixed signals, and I'm so very sorry. I know sorry doesn't seem like enough, but I don't know how else to say it."

"You're right. You should have told me, but you didn't and I came out looking and feeling like a complete fool. But, it's okay. I already forgave you for that the night of the bonfire." She finally looked up at me as she continued, "You know, Tanya was right about one thing. You're so genuinely kind and sweet that it can be a little confusing. I don't think you know the power you hold over… some people." She blushed as she was talking. "But I don't want you to change, just maybe be more aware of what you're saying. Perhaps if there were more people like you in this world we wouldn't fall over ourselves assuming it meant something more when one person treated us like we were special."

"But you are special, Bella." I'd unconsciously leaned in as I spoke to her, willing her to believe my words, so I was startled when she suddenly cringed back.

"Stop. You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Being sweet and confusing the hell out of me so I look like an ass."

"What are you talking about? Why would you look like an ass?"

"Because when you say things like that it's too easy to pretend that you might… that maybe you could actually be interested in someone like me…" As she rambled, becoming more and more flustered and visibly upset, I remembered something Alice had told me the day after the bonfire, about how Bella had taken the misunderstanding all upon herself. Suddenly, I understood the problem. This beautiful girl—that I was borderline obsessed with—had no idea that I wanted her.

"Bella, listen to me. I don't treat every girl like this. I'm not a flirt like Jasper or Emmett, not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's just not me. I meant every word I have ever said to you, every affectionate gesture. I was _trying_ to get you to notice me. You didn't misunderstand anything. I think you're—" I stopped short when Bella gasped like she was in pain.

"You mean you were intentionallyhitting on me?"

"Yes."

"This whole time?"

"Yes." I became leery as her voice grew progressively louder and angrier.

"Why? Why would you do that? Is this all a game to you? Is it fun for you to watch me squirm? Making me fall for you and then using it against me to make me feel stupid for _ever_ thinking that I could be with someone like you."

"What? No! That's not what I meant at all."

She began frantically gathering her papers and books and shoved them in an unorganized stack into her bag. "I have to go. I can't do this right now," she choked out, her voice angry and thick with emotion.

"Wait, Bella. Please let me explain. Bella…" I called after her, but was aggressively shushed by the surrounding library patrons. I gathered up my own belongings and tried to catch up with her before she made it to the parking lot, but her big orange truck was already pulling out of its spot as I came bursting through the front doors.

That was not at all how I'd imagined this conversation going. Maybe it was naive of me, but I thought I would apologize, profess my feelings for her, and begin working toward earning her affection in return. It's not that I'd expected her instant forgiveness or some dramatic moment where she'd launch herself into my arms like a romantic movie, but I hadn't expected her to completely shut me down either. I was now, more than ever, afraid that I'd never get a real chance with her, and it caused an intense ache deep inside my chest.

I went home and plopped down on the couch in a futile attempt to distract myself with some mindless television. Alice and my mom both gave me worried looks when they noticed that I was home so early from my study date with Bella and watching a reality show that I'd adamantly claimed to detest in the past. I shrugged off their concern while I watched the characters on TV play shallow mind games with each other, reminding me of Bella's words. I'd been so careless and it was going to take a lot of kissing up and effort on my part to get back in her good graces, but she was worth it.

My dad came home a short time later, before dinner was ready for once. He was a renowned cardiovascular surgeon, and his new job bringing up the new Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute scheduled to open in a year had kept him busy and working long hours since the moment he arrived. It was taking a toll on the entire family to have him gone so much during this life altering transition, but no one more so than my mom. I supposed it was one of the reasons she had thrown herself so fully into decorating and furnishing our new home. She didn't have any friends here yet, so other than the house, all of her time was dedicated selflessly to nurturing Alice and me. While her constant concern could be interpreted as slightly overbearing, I indulged her considering how lonely she must be feeling right now.

After he greeted my mom in the kitchen—rather eagerly judging by the giggles and noises coming from that direction—he joined me on the couch. He furrowed his brow questioningly at the show I was watching.

"Well, this is… interesting?" He said it like a question and I couldn't hold in my laugh.

"You can change it if you want."

"Nah, it's okay." He toed off his shoes and kicked his feet up on the new coffee table reclining back into the couch. "So how was school today?"

"Fine, I guess, nothing too exciting. Have a big test coming up in chemistry at the end of the week. Found out I get to report on the playoffs for the basketball team, so I'm pretty excited about that. And, um, I tutored Bella after school in French. That's about it."

"Bella, hmm? I've been hearing that name a lot lately. Your mom says she's a sweet girl, cute too." He raised his eyebrows suggestively and I couldn't fight off the grin that the thought of her brought on. My dad seemed to catch on to my crush, because he chuckled softly and nodded his head in approval. "So you're tutoring her in French, huh? Good move, Son."

"It's not a move. I mean, that wasn't my intention."

"Uh-huh. Well, I almost believe you, but that grin on your face clearly indicates otherwise. You don't think it's moving a bit fast after you just broke up with Tanya though?"

"No. I mean, maybe, but… She's part of the reason I broke up with Tanya. Actually, she's the main reason."

"Ah, I see. Well, in that case I can't wait to meet her," he said with a smirk as he slapped my leg. "Come on, I think your mom has dinner about ready. Let's go set the table and sit down like a real family for once."

The next day at school I was resolved to start proving myself to Bella. I would show her that I could not only be a patient and caring friend, but that she was also truly special to me even if she had balked at the idea. I continued to build on the chivalrous efforts that I had already been doing like opening doors for her and walking her to class, and started to pay more attention to other ways that I could demonstrate my feelings to her.

My first attempt was at lunch, when she politely announced to the table that she was going to get a soda from the machine. I immediately offered to go get it for her, and for a moment she looked happy and maybe even a little impressed until Mike Newton had to jump in and also offer to go. She just looked back and forth between the two of us with her brow furrowed and shook her head as she stood to go get the soda herself. I shot Mike daggers from across the table as soon as she walked away. Was he trying to make a move on Bella too?

The next day I was proactive and decided to stop and grab her signature Diet Sunkist from the machine on my way out to the courtyard. I smirked with pride as I sat beside her and plopped the can down in front of her, until I noticed that she was already sipping a soda—a Pepsi. My smile fell as I watched her set the can down next to the one I had just bought. She bit her lip and looked up at me apologetically.

"Sorry, I uh… I thought you liked Diet Sunkist. I didn't realize… You don't have to drink it," I said quietly trying to conceal my disappointment.

She smiled brightly at me before cutting her eyes to Mike who was involved in a conversation with Emmett. "I do like it. It's my favorite, actually. Um… Mike gave me the Pepsi." Her eyes narrowed as she spoke and I caught on instantly to what she was implying. Mike made his move, but he hadn't impressed her with his Pepsi. No, she wanted _my_ Diet Sunkist. "Um… I'll keep this one for later, if that's okay?" She asked as she stashed the can in her backpack.

"Of course, I got it for you."

The rest of the week I bought her a Diet Sunkist without question and had it waiting on the table for her every day when she arrived for lunch. Mike never did buy her another Pepsi. I had won this round. Mike Newton didn't stand a chance. She always sat right next to me and we chatted contentedly. A small tradition had begun and I embraced it, because apparently Diet Sunkist equaled a happy Bella. Neither of us ever brought up the way she stormed out of the library earlier or the confrontation that led up to it. We allowed it to fade into the past as we worked on our friendship, and I continually watched for new ways to win her over and convince her of my affection.

Lunchtime continued to become more and more eventful; starting the following Monday when I realized I had more competition for Bella's attention than just Mike.

"Hi, Bella." I looked up to see some kid with a goofy grin gazing at Bella like she was his own personal goddess.

"Um, hi, Seth. What's up?" she inquired sweetly.

"Nothing really, I just wanted to say hi." He shot her a million dollar smile and a flirtatious wink as he shoved his hands in his jean pockets and turned to walk away, glancing back over his shoulder multiple times and grinning unabashedly at her.

"Dude! Who was that?" Alice burst from next to me as soon as he was out of earshot. Bella blushed furiously as she stared down at the sandwich in her hands.

"That's Seth Black. He's related to Jacob Black, the actor. And it appears he has a bit of a crush on our fair Bella," Rose replied with a proud smirk.

"Oh my god! He's frickin' hot, Bella," my sister exclaimed not so delicately.

"Um, yeah... he is, I guess, but he's a freshman. He's like fourteen or something."

"Ooh, Bella's a cougar, robbin' the cradle," Angela teased in a sing-song voice.

"Maybe you can get him to introduce you to his cousin, because Jacob Black is majorly swoon inducing." I shot Alice a 'what the hell' look after that suggestion.

Bella shrugged off their teasing and continued eating her sandwich, but I noticed a small smile playing on her lips. My heart sank a little more as the girls all conspired and joked about ways to meet Jacob Black. Bella looked a little embarrassed about the situation, but not necessarily put off by the idea.

"I don't get why you girls all get your panties in a wad over this Jacob guy. He's not even a very good actor," Mike contributed, unable to disguise the jealousy in his voice. The girls giggled and rolled their eyes at his whining, but continued on fawning over their Hollywood heartthrob.

"Oh, that scene in his last movie, where he's out in the rain and the water is cascading down his hard, rippled body… So hot!" Rose enthused.

"I can show you what a real hard, rippled body looks like up close and personal if you want, Rosie," Emmett said with a wink.

"Yeah, yeah. Keep your clothes on, Em."

"Maybe if you go out with Seth he can get us all hooked up for Jacob Black's next movie premiere. It comes out in a couple months I think," Alice suggested. My sister and I would be having a serious heart-to-heart tonight.

"Hey, I can get us hooked up for premieres. My dad is a producer ya know," Emmett offered.

"Yeah, but it would be so much cooler if we were invited by Jacob Black," Rose sighed.

"Whatever."

The next day was even worse when Alice, Bella, and Rose all three showed up for lunch with matching mischievous grins on their faces. Jasper cocked an eye brow at their suspicious behavior as they approached the table. Rose was loudly humming that one Katy Perry song about kissing a girl.

"I kissed Bella!" Alice burst as she took a seat between Jasper and Angela. Jasper choked on his water at the same time that I gasped for a breath, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of me at my twin's abrupt and highly unexpected statement.

"Alice! You just couldn't wait could you," Rose admonished, shaking her head and laughing to herself.

"Are you serious?" Jasper managed to gasp out between rough coughs. Alice nodded her head fiercely in response with a joyful grin on her face. "Holy shit! Tell me someone filmed that."

"God, I hope not!" Bella exclaimed from the other side of me where she had quietly taken a seat. I turned to look at her, trying to figure out if this was just some weird dream. Her blazing blush and the way she was violently chewing her lip indicated reality—an odd alternate reality where the girl of my dreams made out with my sister.

"You… W-what? I mean why? When? How? Fuck!" Bella's eyes widened at my outburst.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a purposeful and slow delivery.

"I… I… No. You kissed my sister?"

"Well, technically she kissed me, but yes." I don't know what I expected her to say, but I really didn't want her to just admit to it. What did this mean?

"Seriously?" I looked back and forth between Alice and Bella pleading with my eyes for one of them to tell me it was all a big joke.

"Jeez, Edward, relax. You look like you're about to have a stroke. It was just a kiss," Rose said coolly.

I looked up, finally taking in the expressions of everyone else at the table. Emmett was trying to hold in his laughter while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at both Bella and my sister. Jasper looked delighted and I really wanted to smack the smug smile off his face. Rose appeared a little proud which only served to confuse me more. Angela and Ben were huddled together giggling like a couple of little kids that were talking about their friends having cooties. Mike Newton was practically undressing Bella with his eyes—again. And Bella looked a little embarrassed but also happy, perhaps? That had me more concerned than anything.

"Oh my god, Edward! It was just for our drama class. We were practicing stage kisses and the teacher asked for volunteers," Alice finally explained. I sighed in relief, feeling like I could breathe again without having to think about it. That was supposed to be an involuntary bodily function, right?

"So, the teacher made you kiss a girl?"

"Uh, no. That was all Alice. I think she was hoping to kiss Mr. Brody. When that didn't work out, she tried to use me as a means of seduction. I'm just an innocent victim in all this, you see." I laughed at Bella's response. That was so like Alice to try and pull a ridiculous stunt to seduce her teacher.

"I see. It's still kind of weird though."

"What is with you girls and Mr. Brody? He's old… and married," Jasper complained.

"He's hot," Alice stated matter-of-factly. "And he's not that old. He's in his early thirties." Jasper just rolled his eyes and continued to pout.

"So, Edward, is your fantasy of two hot girls making out completely ruined for you now that your sister made out with your girl?" Rose asked.

I chuckled and replied without thinking, "Um, yeah, kinda."

Rose looked pointedly at Bella as if trying to convey something important before she continued.

"Would you feel better about it if I kissed _your girl_? A little something for the spank bank perhaps?" It was then that her words finally registered—my girl. I liked the sound of that.

"Rose, stop. That's crass. Plus, I'm not his g… We're not... Never mind." Bella huffed out an annoyed breath and got a faraway look on her in her eyes as she stared at her can of Diet Sunkist—that I gave her. Rose watched her for a moment before narrowing her eyes at me, even though I wasn't sure why. The rest of the table moved on to the next topic of conversation while Bella and I sat quietly next to each other. After a few minutes, she stood and dismissed herself to head to _The Blaze_ office under the guise of needing to pick up a flash drive that she supposedly left in there before class.

I sat and stewed for a moment, trying to understand what just happened. I was sick of the awkwardness between us whenever our relationship was called into question. It was time to clear the air once and for all. Bella needed to know how I felt, and then I would leave the ball in her court.

I entered the small newspaper office and quietly closed the door behind me, the click of it shutting alerting Bella to my presence. She was standing behind the big desk facing me.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered.

"Can we talk?" I requested in a hushed tone.

"What's there to talk about?"

"You're upset," I stated. She looked down and refused to respond so I pushed forward. "You're upset that Rose called you my girl."

"I'm not upset, I'm just… Look, this is already embarrassing enough without having to talk about it. We all know I'm the fool here." She huffed out a breath of frustration and then looked up at me. "Rose thought you would be jealous or something. Ridiculous, right? Anyway, I'm fine… I just need a minute."

"Well, Rose was right, and I think you're under a misconception."

"Huh?" I walked around the large desk and stepped right in front of her. She leaned back on the desk putting a little more distance between us.

"Bella, my belle Bella, do you honestly have no idea of my feelings for you? I care about you… so much." I unconsciously leaned in to her as a spoke, my words quiet but intense with emotion. "I want more with you."

"What?"

I brought my hand up to stroke her soft tresses as I explained. "I want to be with you Bella. It's all I want. You're all I think about."

"What… Why are you saying this?"

"Because it's the truth, and it has been for a while now. Don't you feel this? This _thing _between us, it's so strong and overwhelming sometimes that it feels almost tangible."

"Edward… I don't know what you want me to say."

"You don't have to say anything. I just needed you to know everything. It's up to you now. Where do we go from here?"

"I don't know. I just… wow. I mean, a couple weeks ago to hear you say these things to me would have been like a dream come true, but now… I don't know. I'm not sure I can do this. Since you've moved here everything has gotten so complicated and distracting and… I have other things I should be focused on right now. I just don't think the high school dating game is for me. I just—can't."

"Bella…" I said in a strangled whisper, pleading with my eyes for her to reconsider.

"I'm sorry," she sighed as she rose up on her toes and kissed me softly on the cheek. I froze stock still, swallowing thickly against the tightening in my throat, and relished the momentary feeling of her warm lips against my skin. I watched her warily as she pulled back, fidgeted with the strap of her backpack, and then gently pushed past me to leave. She glanced back over her shoulder as she opened the door and I realized that I still hadn't budged. I was just standing there stricken, and I couldn't find the will to move.

xxx

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**A/N:** *Tear* Poor Edward. I don't think that boy has much experience actually working for it. Looks like this may take a little more effort than he thought. This was a shorter chapter than usual, but it felt like a natural place to end it. Next up we will find out what's going on with Bella and just how she was able to resist being pinned against a desk while Edward professed his feelings for her. It would of have made me swoon-just saying. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I definitely had fun writing certain parts. Heehee!

Thank you to all of you for taking the time to read, review, tweet, pimp and PM me. Your support means the world to me, and I am so very happy you are all along for this ride with me. Thanks to Hibbleton78 and Hollister1980 for their dedication and the tremendous effort they put into helping me out with this little endeavor. Love you girls!

I will get through review replies for the last chapter right now, but do to unforeseen circumstances last night you are getting this chapter with no RR teaser. I am _so_ sorry. No matter what, I will always reply to your reviews... even if I am late now. As a long time reader myself, I know all to well that you don't have to leave them.

Love, Shell


	8. Courting

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its beautiful characters. This story is loosely based off of plot lines from the original Beverly Hills, 90210 TV series. I have taken many liberties with them. No infringement is intended to any media franchise. The remainder is my original work.

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**Chapter 8  
"Courting"**

"Bella, my _belle_ Bella, do you honestly have no idea of my feelings for you? I care about you… so much. I want more with you." His words—spoken with such earnest and intensity—were the answer to my every prayer, yet they only served to overwhelm me at that very moment.

"What?" I gasped, failing to form a more coherent reply. He stepped closer, trapping my body against the desk and bringing his hand up to stroke the length of my hair. His eyes searched mine; for what, I wasn't certain. His close proximity jumbled my thoughts, and I found myself once again battling against the fog in my head that his very presence seemed to create as I grasped to understand his intention.

"I want to be with you, Bella. It's all I want. You're all I think about." He said it with so much sincerity that it was all I could do not to throw myself at him, but I needed more. I wanted to know what had prompted his declaration.

"What… Why are you saying this?" I whispered in desperation.

"Because it's the truth, and it has been for a while now. Don't you feel this? This thing between us, it's so strong and overwhelming sometimes that it feels almost tangible." As he gestured back and forth between the two of us, I was overcome by many simultaneous emotions. There was relief that I wasn't stuck in a crazy one-sided crush. There was elation that he truly felt something for me—wanted me. But there was also nervousness and fear because I had already fallen for him, and it had caused so much unnecessary hurt and upheaval in my life.

He didn't understand the power he had over me—the power to completely break me if I allowed him to get that close. The rollercoaster of emotions I'd experienced the past few weeks had been crushing. If I made the effort and it didn't work out, it could potentially destroy me. I had too much at stake to let some teenage, hormone-induced feelings for a boy shove me off course no matter how badly I wanted him and to be his.

"Edward…" I started and stopped, trying but failing to voice to my concerns, "I don't know what you want me to say." I heard my voice crack with frustration.

"You don't have to say anything. I just needed you to know everything. It's up to you now. Where do we go from here?" He made it sound so simple, but it wasn't. There was so much he didn't know that could drastically alter his feelings for me.

"I don't know. I just… wow. I mean, a couple weeks ago to hear you say these things to me would have been like a dream come true, but now… I don't know." I peered up at him just in time to watch his breathtaking smile slowly fade from his face. I wanted to say something—anything—to bring it back, but I just couldn't. I had to be honest with him. "I'm not sure I can do this. Since you've moved here, everything has gotten so complicated and distracting and… I have other things I should be focused on right now. I just don't think the high school dating game is for me. I just—can't."

"Bella…" he whispered, my name leaving his lips as a heartbroken plea.

"I'm sorry." The dejection in his eyes was too much to bear, and I had to give him something to soothe away the despair. Without much thought, I rose up on my tiptoes and kissed him softly on his cheek just above his perfectly sculpted jaw line. He froze the moment my lips made contact, and his breath fanned across my face as I lightly pressed my mouth against his smooth skin. I breathed him in—inhaling his scent and essence—as I slowly lowered myself back down to my normal height and took a small step back, leaving me staring squarely at his broad chest. My lips still tingled from the sensation of his skin under them. I steadied myself, avoiding his eyes, as I silently reached behind me to retrieve my backpack from the desk and turned to leave. When I finally gave into the impulse to glance back at him, I noticed that he hadn't moved a muscle. He was simply staring after me, whether stunned by my kiss or stricken by my rejection I wasn't sure.

My vision blurred, my eyes becoming glassy at the look of pure sadness on his face, and I knew I had to escape quickly before I caved and threw myself at him, begging him to forget everything I had just said. Nothing good could come from that. He didn't know me—not really—and in the end it could only serve to hurt us both. I had secrets I had to keep.

In some twisted way, I had come to think that Tanya had been a blessing all along, allowing me time to reign in my adolescent hormones before I made a real mess of everything. If Edward truly wanted me, and Tanya hadn't been in the picture, I know I wouldn't have been able to resist him. He owned me from the first moment I saw him walk into our French class weeks ago.

Needing a moment to myself, I headed to the journalism classroom early. The term 'deafening silence' had never felt as real to me as it did the moment door closed behind me and I was left alone with only my thoughts to occupy me. In an attempt to distract myself from over thinking everything that had just happened, I booted up one of the many computers lining the far wall of the room, and forced myself to begin working on the most recent article submission for the paper. After reading the same sentence for the sixth time in a row without comprehension, I realized my efforts were in vain as my traitorous thoughts kept drifting back to a beautiful bronze haired, green-eyed boy.

For a moment, I allowed myself to ponder how different this situation would be if I was like every other student at West Beverly. Had I come from a more privileged background with the means to buy myself into any school of my choice this could be so much simpler. When Edward confessed that he wanted to be with me, I would have wrapped my arms around him and pulled him to me. Maybe I would have taken Rose's advice and made him sweat it out a little bit, but I knew I would have been a goner after he poured his heart out like he did. We would've shared a passionate kiss, and he could call me his girlfriend. He would pick me up at my house for dates, and we would flirt and fill each other's lives with laughter, happiness, and possibly even love.

I sighed at my simplistic thoughts and then frowned when I realized how petty they truly were. I had a great life, and I was on path to earn my way in the world. Money was nothing. Maybe it made certain things in life a bit easier to attain, but it didn't fix anything. I had a dad that worked hard to provide for me and goals to strive towards. Nothing else mattered, not in the scheme of things.

The bell rang, and I continued to stare blankly at the computer screen as I listened to the sound of my classmates shuffling into the room and the roar of the hallway every time the door opened. I swear I actually felt the moment he walked into the room. My body buzzed like a livewire at the mere thought of his presence. I braced myself to look over and see if he was faring any better when Ben plopped down into the seat next to me.

"Hey. You okay? You kind of disappeared suddenly from lunch. I think Ang was worried about you."

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine. I just needed a minute to myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'll talk to Angela later. Promise."

"Okay," he continued to stare at me for a moment before he gave me a mischievous smirk. "So you really kissed Alice today?"

"Oh god," I groaned as I let me head drop down to the table. "I'm never going to live that down am I?"

"Hell no. That's epic," he laughed—at my expense and utter humiliation.

By the time Mr. Banner called the class to order, I had momentarily forgotten the stress of the situation with Edward. When I spun around in my chair to direct my attention to the teacher, I noticed Edward was staring right at me, but it was as if he was gazing straight through me and not really seeing me. I tried to smile at him to help him relax but he didn't even flinch. His ardent stare was making me increasingly uncomfortable, until Mr. Banner addressed him about his current assignment.

"Edward… Earth to Edward," he called playfully.

"Oh… Um…" I watched his ears turn red with embarrassment as he tried to figure out what the teacher was asking of him. "I'm sorry, Mr. Banner. Here's my outline."

"Uh-huh. Something or _someone_ got you a little distracted this afternoon?" Mr. Banner asked with a teasing grin. I felt my own cheeks flush with the implication. Edward didn't give an answer, but instead began to fidget uncomfortably under his scrutiny. When his knee started bouncing at an unbelievably rapid rate, Mr. Banner took pity and moved on to his next victim.

The rest of the class Edward dutifully ignored me and most everyone else in the room. He sat silently staring down at his desk, his head propped up on his hand while he doodled on the corner of his notebook. He never looked up, never spoke, and hardly moved—an act that was highly out of character for him. I willed myself not to feel hurt by the action, knowing he was struggling far more than I was at the moment.

As soon as the bell rang, he bolted from his seat and all but ran out the door. I gaped after him confused and unsure of how to proceed. I really didn't want to lose his friendship over this and hoped that he just needed some time to come to terms with everything.

I swallowed back the lump in my throat at his cold actions and forced myself to plow on through the remainder of the school day. Anatomy was as uneventful as ever, but History was another story. Jasper took the opportunity to tease me relentlessly about kissing Alice. I think he really just wanted a detailed recounting of the kiss. I made an attempt to turn the tables on him by asking why he hadn't made a move to kiss Alice yet, to which he shied away. He obviously liked her a lot, so I didn't understand his hold up.

I spent the rest of the class period fretting over Edward. By the time the bell rang, I had a plan of action. I was bound and determined to break the ice and salvage our friendship. I walked into our French classroom—a girl on a mission—with a determined look on my face and a plan in my heart. It all started with 'I'm sorry—or rather, '_Je suis désolé_.' I had read the pronunciation over and over again during History, making sure I would get it just right. I knew he would at least appreciate the effort, and with any luck, perhaps I would be awarded with the return of his smile.

Edward was already seated at his assigned desk. He was gazing quietly out the side window, seemingly oblivious to the flurry of students around him. I walked right up to him without any prelude and confidently recited my practiced French.

"Zhuh swee day-so-lay," I said with careful and deliberate enunciation.

Edwards head whipped around to face me. His brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to piece together my butchered vocabulary. I could actually see the moment it clicked because his beautiful mouth broke out into a heart stopping smile for a split second before he lost all control and started laughing hysterically.

"_Je suis désolé_," he repeated back to me in his silky voice after he regained his composure. Who knew 'sorry' could sound so damn good. "That was horrible, Bella. Absolutely horrible," he chuckled. I resisted the urge to become offended, because in the end I got my desired result. Edward was talking and laughing with me.

"Well, my pronunciation may be crap but I am sorry—truly," I said with as much sincerity and conviction as I could convey.

"There's nothing to be sorry for. I just thought… You know what? It doesn't matter." He huffed out a breath as he looked down at his desk. I was about to speak up when he looked at me with a mischievous smirk playing on his lips. "I can't believe all my efforts in tutoring you the past couple weeks failed so miserably. You clearly need more work than I thought."

"That was pretty bad, huh? Maybe I should fire my tutor," I jibed back, enjoying the playful banter. This was us. The way we were comfortable together.

"Oh, don't you dare blame that gibberish you're trying to pass off as French on your tutor. I have it on good authority he's the best there is—_le maître_. You obviously just need more work."

"Oh is that so?" We teased back and forth until Madame Wand called the class to order. A few minutes into her lecture, I felt Edward pluck my lucky red pencil out of my makeshift bun. He proceeded to jab me lightly in the shoulder with it every time the teacher called on someone to answer a question or read a passage out loud. I couldn't contain the smile on my face every time he did, because to me, his light teasing meant that we were okay. I wasn't going to lose my friend over this.

When class ended, he walked me to my locker as usual and then we headed out to our respective vehicles together. We were quieter than normal, and perhaps a bit awkward, but he seemed lighter and happier than he had since our mishap at lunch.

"So… what are you doing tonight?" he asked suddenly from right next to me, surprising me as I chucked my backpack up onto the bench seat of my truck.

"I have to work until eight o'clock, then just homework I guess. You?" I felt his eyes rake over me before he cleared his throat and responded.

"Oh, um nothing really. Probably just homework," he said, anxiously fiddling with the untucked edge of his short sleeve button down shirt. "Well, I guess you probably need to get going. I have to wait for Alice. She and Jasper seem to be getting more and more lost in each other every day." I found myself momentarily smiling at his statement, delighted for my friends, before a wave of envy washed over me wishing it could be as easy for us to enjoy that form of happiness. I quickly locked the jealousy away, disappointed in myself once again.

"Yeah, I should get going. Bye, Edward."

"Have a good night, Bella. Drive safe."

Ever the gentleman, he gently closed the truck door behind me after I climbed in. I drove to work a little more confused than before about how exactly Edward fit into my life. I couldn't deny that I wanted more with him, and now that I knew he wanted more as well, my thoughts were becoming convoluted. A relationship just didn't seem viable, all things considered, but it was becoming impossible to ignore the chemistry between us. I felt like I could trust him, but fear of the unknown held me back.

I spent my four hour shift at the library thoroughly distracted by my thoughts of Edward. A mini movie of every sweet smile, every thoughtful gesture, every incidental touch that ignited my body, and every laugh we'd shared ran on a constant loop in my mind. It was quickly followed by glimpses of heart break when I reflected on the pain I'd felt when I thought he had asked me out only to discover he had a girlfriend he hadn't told me about, and ultimately when I had to face Tanya and her harsh words.

By the time I got home, I was more confused and agitated than ever. I needed to talk this out with a girlfriend—someone that truly understood me and I could trust to be honest with me.

"Hello," she answered sounding a bit distracted.

"Hey, Ang. It's me. You have time to talk?" I heard papers shuffle and a door close as she replied

"Hi, Bells. What's up?"

"I need advice… on boys… well on one boy," I mumbled.

"One _boy_, huh?" she giggled. "So you're going to give Seth a chance after all? Aww, you're going to make his little fourteen year old heart beat right out of his chest." She was goading me. Figures.

Ever since Seth had showed the slightest interest in me, each of my friends had been unrelenting in their teasing. He was a sweet kid, but he reminded me a little bit of puppy. While he was unquestionably attractive, he had a baby face that only accentuated our age difference. That wasn't to say that his celebrity cousin wasn't a total heartthrob, because he was. I understood the push from my girlfriends to get close to Seth as a means to get close to Jacob Black, but I would never use him like that. He was too sweet and innocent.

"Shut up. I'm not talking about Seth, obviously. And he's fifteen not fourteen."

"Oh, so you've discussed age, have you? Trying to put a spin on it that doesn't make you look like a cradle robber?" she mocked with playful laugh.

"Aaannng," I whined.

"Alright, alright. I'll stop—for now. So, do you want to tell me which boy you want to talk about then?"

"Oh good grief… Edward. It's Edward."

"Ha! I knew it," she exclaimed victoriously. "And Edward is no boy. He is _well_ on his way to being a man, if you know what I mean. So what's the trouble?"

"I still like him—so much—way more than I should considering how long I've known him. I don't know what to do. I thought I was getting over him, but then Rose made that comment at lunch calling me his girl and I just… Well, I panicked because I really liked the way it sounded. I want it to be true in my heart, but I know in my head it's just not possible."

"Why not? He's single now. Maybe you should tell him how you feel? He seems really into you. I mean, he practically fought with Mike to buy you a soda all last week. It was ridiculous and funny as hell, but also kind of sweet. He just might surprise you, Bells. You won't know if you don't try."

"See that's the thing… he kind of already told me that he liked me today."

"What? Oh. My. God." I held the phone away from ear as she proceeded to squeal in delight. "He told you he likes you? Oh, I'm so happy for you. When did this happen? What exactly did he say? Did he kiss you? This is so awesome. He seems like a really great guy, Bells. I mean, I know it was shitty the way he led you on, but when you two are together, it's like you're all he sees. I really don't think he ever meant to hurt you."

Tears pricked my eyes as I listened to her proud rambling. She sounded genuinely happy for me. I proceeded to tell her everything that had taken place after I fled from the courtyard and into the sanctuary of the newspaper office. She ooh'd and aww'd in all the right places, but didn't seem to understand what the problem was.

"So let me get this straight. You like him?"

"Yeah."

"He told you that he likes you, and that he wants to be with you?"

"Yeah."

"He said you're all he thinks about?"

"Yeah." I could hear the smile in my own voice confirming his sweet words.

"Then why the hell did you tell him you didn't want to be with him?"

"Because I'm scared. He doesn't know the whole story about school and my parents. What if I tell him and he rejects me? What if it gets me kicked out of West Beverly? What if he realizes I'm not as intriguing as he's built me up to be and gets bored? I'm really into him, Ang. This could end so badly." I was practically in tears trying to vent my frustrations to her, but she knew exactly what to say to calm me and make me really think through my options.

"Why does it have to end badly? Sure, relationships are scary. There's always a risk that someone could get hurt, but Bells, it could be _so amazing_ if it works out." She paused for a moment, likely deciding the best way to convince me. "Listen, you're practically a sister to me, so you know I'll support any decision you make, but I have to tell you… I've never seen you like this. You're different around him—in a _really_ good way. I think you should take some time to think about what it is you want. There's no reason to rush into anything. If it's meant to be, Edward will still be waiting for you when you're ready. But I think you can trust him, and I don't think he's given you any reason to think he would judge you for your circumstances."

I absorbed her words, internalizing and embracing them. She was right; there was no rush. If I was worried about knowing if I could completely trust Edward before I made any step forward with him, it had little to do with his actions so far and more to do with the little amount of time I had known him. Time—it was a novel concept. I instantly felt more at peace with the entire situation. I thanked Angela for showing me the light, and we continued to chat about Edward and then shifted to Ben for a while longer.

"Okay, enough with the boy talk—" she started, before I cut her off.

"I thought you said they were men," I teased.

"Oh, shut it. I want to know more about this kiss with Alice. I mean, really, if you wanted to experiment with a girl..."

"Gah! Stop, stop, stop. It was nothing, really."

"So you don't have anything you need to tell me?" she asked suspiciously with an obvious playful tone. I burst into a fit of laughter at her suggestion.

"No, Ang, I'm one hundred percent sure that I'm straight. The not-so-clean thoughts I've been having ever since Edward moved here are proof of that." She giggled at my confession as I dived into the retelling of the events that lead up to my first femme kiss earlier in the day. It really was one of those moments I was unlikely to ever forget.

When I'd walked into the theater at the beginning of class, Alice was there waiting for me, practically vibrating with excitement. I asked her what was going on, and she proceeded to squeal and clap while merrily telling me that she'd heard from a friend in the second period drama class that we were going to be working on stage kisses today. I giggled along with her at the thought of having to kiss any of our classmates. Most of the guys in there were true thespians—theater geeks to the core. I was honestly a bit nervous about the whole idea, but Alice seemed positively delighted.

She went on to explain that Mr. Brody had pretended to kiss a senior girl on the cheek. Of course being a credible drama teacher his lips never actually touched the girl, but in Alice's mind, she had devised a foolproof plan to volunteer for the same demonstration and then turn her head just enough at the last minute to make contact. Unfortunately for her, Mr. Brody foiled her idea by wisely ignoring her bouncing hand and whimpers when he asked for a volunteer. Instead, he'd selected a soft-spoken freshman who was unlikely to cause a scene.

After making all the girls in the class swoon with his very romantic demonstration, he went on to explain the different ways to angle your face and position your hands to make even a simple kiss appear deeper and more intimate than it truly was for the actors.

My plight began when he once again asked for volunteers, but this time for students to try it together. Of course, Alice was still on a mission to seduce Mr. Brody, even if the idea was laughable. She thought she would appeal to his _other head_ by showing him just what he was missing. I didn't bother to tell her that I'd seen his wife on campus with him before, and I highly doubted he was missing out on anything.

Without any real explanation, she grabbed my hand and pulled me up to the stage, not waiting for the teacher to call on her.

"Come on, Bella. Let's show 'em how it's done," she enthused.

I looked around, confused about who she expected us to kiss since no guys had joined us on the stage. Before I fully realized what was happening, her tiny hands were on each side of my face angling my head down to her. It was odd, being slightly taller than her, and I'm sure the shock registered on my face, but she bravely stepped forward, closing the distance between us and pressed her lips to mine. The raucous cheering coming from our audience spurred her on, and instead of following Mr. Brody's instructions to fake it, she began to move her lips fervently against my own. It all happened much too quickly to analyze, so I just went with it. There was no tongue—thank god—but she continued to deepen the kiss, and I met her move for move. When she decided to really make a show of it by stroking her hand down my neck, a series of cat calls and dog whistles broke out, forcing a giggle to erupt from deep within me. We broke apart and fell together on the stage in a pile of hysterics while the class cheered wildly.

Mr. Brody's face was red with embarrassment at our display, but even he clapped for the performance. One thing was for sure, we had his attention. I wasn't so sure it was a good thing though.

"So that's pretty much what happened," I said after I recounted the story to Angela. "Rose and Alice thought it would be a good way to make Edward jealous, which I thought was completely ridiculous. That's why they made such a spectacle of it at lunch. Turns out they were right after all."

"That's classic. I hope you realize no one is going to forget this for a very long time."

The next morning, I arrived at school later than normal after getting stuck in traffic due to a four car pileup on the freeway. I pulled into my usual parking spot next to Edward's Volvo and headed towards the front steps where all of my friends were already gathered waiting for the morning bell to ring. As I approached the group, their conversation quieted and they all eyed me cautiously. That was when I realized Edward wasn't with them. I thought we had left things okay between the two of us yesterday, but perhaps he had decided he wasn't comfortable being around me after all. That thought stung more than I cared to acknowledge.

"Morning," I said shyly as I stepped next to Angela.

She pulled me into a side hug and quietly whispered in my ear, "You okay?" I nodded and tried to give her a reassuring smile. I looked around to the faces of all my friends that were still watching me with undisguised curiosity. This was awkward to say the least. I assumed word had spread by now, no doubt making me look like a bitch for turning down Edward when I was so clearly attracted to him. The thing was, I didn't think Edward was the type of person to speak ill of me to our friends, even if he was upset. He was so calm about everything that had happened with Tanya, and I was so much less significant.

I debated asking Alice flat out where he was, but I didn't want to address the entire group. Somehow reading the concern etched across my face, she saved me the embarrassment and spoke up without any prompting.

"Um… Edward said to tell everyone hi, but that he had to take care of some things for a class this morning, and he will see us at lunch." She smiled sweetly at me, and even though I was still worried that I was the cause for his absence from our unspoken morning meeting place, I felt somewhat relieved by her casual statement.

I leaned back against the hand rail of the steps and inhaled the smell of fresh cut grass in the early morning air. I allowed my mind to go blank while I gazed up at the palm branches swaying in the breeze as my friends resumed their previous conversations.

On our way to first period English, Angela asked if I was going to try and talk to Edward today about needing some time to figure out what I wanted. I told her I was going to play it by ear. I wasn't sure where Edward's head was at. I didn't see him at all between my morning classes, and a small part of me worried that he was intentionally avoiding me.

When my free fourth period rolled around, I entered the small newspaper office to be greeted by the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers I had ever seen. It was an arrangement of at least three dozen multicolored tulips. Curious as to who they were for and where they had come from, I walked over and glanced at the accompanying card, half expecting that they were intended for a teacher and had been accidentally delivered to the wrong room. My fingers brushed over the small, crisp white envelope with elegant black ink scrawled across the front of it as I read the name scripted on it—my name. 'Bella' had never looked so lovely spelled out in black and white as it did right then, sticking out of the middle of that beautiful bunch of flowers.

I felt an uncontrollable smile break out across my face as I gently plucked the card out of the bouquet. No one had ever given me flowers before. It felt like a rite of passage. My pulse raced as I opened the envelope and pulled out the tiny card, praying they were from _him_.

_Dearest Bella,  
I know this in no way makes up  
for the hurt I have caused you,  
but it's my way of letting you know  
I won't ever stop trying to be deserving of you.  
Please give us a chance.  
Affectionately yours,  
Edward  
Les belles fleurs pour une belle fille._

I could feel my heart melting as I glanced back and forth from the flowers to the card. I had read more romantic literature than the average seventeen year old girl, and I was certain that more beautiful words had never been written. I stared at the card for an indefinite amount of time, running my fingers over the tender words as if to absorb them into my soul. A stupid, happy grin took up permanent residence on my face as I realized that this was my very first love note that didn't involve yes and no check boxes. Between this sweet gesture and my conversation with Angela the night before, my resolve was definitely wavering.

A tentative knock on the door startled me. I looked up to see Edward nervously running his hand through his silken bronze hair. He looked from me to the flowers and back again.

"Bella, can I come in for a moment?" I nodded, the corner of my lips turning up into a reassuring smile as he stepped inside the small room, quietly closing the door behind him.

"Edward, hi. Thank you, the tulips are lovely. I've never received anything like this before," I said softly, blushing like a fool as my fingers ghosted over the delicate petals of a violet tulip.

"You're welcome. I didn't know if you had a favorite flower, but I thought these were very beautiful," he replied. He took a steadying breath and gestured to the bouquet as he continued. "I didn't know if this was too much too soon, and I don't want to scare you off, but I wanted you to know that I'm _not_ giving up." His lips pulled up into his signature crooked smirk, causing my heart to flutter.

"I don't want you to give up," I said with confidence. I was rewarded with a breathtaking smile. "I just need some time, maybe, to think about this and adjust to the idea. Is that okay? Can we take it slow? Get to know each other better before…" I trailed off, hinting at the possibility of a future relationship.

"Of course. You can take as much time as you need, and we will go as slow as you want. There's no rush. I just want to make you happy."

"You already do." We grinned at each other like idiots for a moment before it dawned on me that he should be in class right now. "Hey, what class are you ditching to be here?"

"Gym, but I have an excused absence. I'm supposed to be hunting down the baseball coach to see if there is still time for me to make the varsity team this year. Emmett and his buddies pulled some strings for me and put in a good word."

"Baseball, huh?"

"Yep, second baseman. I've played since I was five years old. Do you watch baseball?"

"Yeah, my dad is a diehard Dodgers fan."

"Ugh, Dodgers, really? I don't know about that," he teased.

"Hey, you're in L.A. now, buddy. It's the Dodgers or Angels around here."

"Guess I better not show up to your house wearing my Twins paraphernalia then, huh?"

"No! Definitely not," I laughed.

"Well, I should get going. I'm glad you like your flowers. I'll see you at lunch." He winked and smirked, while I swooned and sputtered out something that sounded roughly like goodbye. One thing was for certain, Edward's confidence was back, and if he wanted to win me over I didn't stand a fighting chance. Damn adolescent hormones.

When I made it out to the courtyard for lunch, Alice, Angela, and Rose were all waiting for me with expectant grins on their faces, obviously in on Edward's plan to crumble my defenses. Alice had her hands clasped over her mouth in a vain attempt to contain her excitement while she waited for me to spill the details. I feigned nonchalance and sat down quietly next to her.

"I can't take it anymore!" Alice finally burst. "He made me keep it secret all morning so he could talk to you in private first. What did you think? Are you guys finally together now? The unresolved sexual tension between you two is killing me," she said dramatically.

"Oh my god. We do not have unresolved sexual tension," I retorted, to which three pairs of eye glared back at me. "Okay maybe we do… a little… but still."

"The flowers, Bella, focus," Angela said, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"He got me a huge bouquet of tulips. They're beautiful—really beautiful—and he was so sweet. He said he wasn't going to give up, and I told him I didn't want him to." All three girls squealed simultaneously.

"So what does this mean? Are you together now?" Angela asked.

"No. I thought about what you said last night and told him that I needed some time. He was perfectly fine with that—happy even. We're just going to get to know each other better and see where it goes."

"What are you girlies gossiping about?" a deep voice asked from behind us.

"Hi, Em," Rose purred with her signature flirty smile. "Edward gave Bella flowers. We were just getting the scoop."

"Ah, yeah. He was nervous as hell about that. You weren't too hard on him were you, Bella?"

"I don't think so."

"Good. He cares about you a lot. Gotta stick up for my boy, even if his ex was a royal bitch to all of us."

My mood instantly soured at the thought of Tanya. Unfortunately, Edward walked up just in time to see my frown. He cast me wary look as he took the seat next to me and gently placed a can of Diet Sunkist in front of me.

"Everything okay?" he asked quietly, his velvet soft voice caressing my soul and stirring up the butterflies in my tummy. I nodded as I glanced down at the can of soda he bought for me. It was just a fifty cent can of soda—much less significant than the extravagant bouquet waiting for me in the newspaper office—but it meant so much to me. It was a bit ridiculous how much value I placed on the gesture, but it implied that he had taken the time to observe something unique to me.

"I'm better than okay." I replied, grinning at him while I popped open the top of the can and took a long pull of the sweet orange goodness.

"Good." He propped his elbows up on the table and angled his body towards me and began to eat his lunch. I was acutely aware of the proximity of his body to mine. Every move he made sent a static buzz coursing through me. I must have been lost in my haze of lust for him, because he gently nudged my shoulder with his and nodded his head in his sister's direction.

"Hey, where'd ya go just now, Bella?" Alice asked with a knowing smirk.

"I was just thinking," I clipped with a playful glint in my eye. She just giggled at my attempt to keep her from embarrassing me.

"Uh-huh. Well, I was asking if you wanted to come over to my house on Friday night. Rose has a date, and she needs our help getting ready."

"Um, okay. Who all is coming over?"

"Just you and Rose. Ang can't make it."

"Hot date?" I teased Angela.

"I guess, if you call Ben getting us tickets to some lame martial arts film marathon a hot date," she snarked. Ben's head popped up from the conversation he was having on the other side of the table and murmured 'I heard that.' Angela playfully rolled her eyes at him in response.

"So, why don't we just come over to your house?" I asked, turning back to Rose, somewhat confused.

"Because she doesn't really know this guy, and we thought it would be better if he didn't know where she lived just yet," Alice replied for her.

"Oh. Who are you going out with?"

"This guy I met at the gym. He's older, like nineteen or twenty I think, and in college. He's so hot! But I just met his last week so…" I was more than a little concerned about what a college guy would want with a high school junior, but Rose seemed excited. Emmett, on the other hand, looked like he was about to have an aneurism, glaring at his half-eaten sandwich. It was really unlike him to let perfectly good food go to waste. I knew he and Rose had some kind of history together, but I didn't know any details.

I turned back to Edward who was quietly watching me, and felt a sudden rush of self-consciousness. "Um… are you going to be home on Friday night?" I asked. He beamed at my question and nodded that he would be.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you… I mean only if you want to… If maybe you'd want to hang out with me after you're done with the girls?" he asked expectantly.

"I'd like that."

"Really?"

"Yes, of course."

"Good, then it's a date." My cheeks flushed once again at his choice of words.

The rest of the week Edward was as sweet and attentive as ever, but he never pushed me. We talked a lot and took advantage of every free moment we had together to get to know every minute detail about each other, with the obvious exception of some rather significant information about me that I was still skeptical to reveal.

Friday night found me fidgeting nervously outside the Cullen mansion, waiting for someone to answer the door. Instead of Alice or Edward, I was greeted by a handsome, older, blond gentleman that I immediately recognized from pictures as Dr. Cullen.

"Why, hello there. You must be Bella, I've heard so much about you. I'm Carlisle, Alice and Edward's father." I blushed wondering if he knew about the mutual attraction between Edward and I, but tried to recover by politely extending my hand for a shake.

"Hello, Dr. Cullen. It's nice to meet you."

"Please, call me Carlisle. I prefer to drop the doctor title when I'm not at work, it seems so pretentious to me."

"Yes, sir. Is Alice around?"

"She's up in her room with Rosalie. You know the way?"

"I do, thank you."

I walked up the staircase and paused by the study when I heard beautiful piano music emanating from the other side of the hardwood double doors. I briefly wondered if it was Esme or Edward who played, but didn't want to intrude uninvited.

I entered Alice's room to find both girls sitting in the middle of her bed surrounded by heaps of clothing and shoe boxes. Music blared from Alice's iPod dock as they shuffled through a pile of fashion jewelry and chatted away.

"Yay! You're here," Alice exclaimed when she looked up.

"Hi, Bella. Get over here and help me figure out what to wear," Rose called, pushing the piles around on the bed to make room for me.

"Hi, are you ready for your date?" I asked her.

"I'm kind of nervous. And Alice is no help, the way she constantly changes her mind about how I should dress. I just want to look good, you know? I've never been out with an older guy before." I was somewhat taken aback by Rose's nervous babbling. She always exuded so much confidence.

"You'll look amazing, as always. So tell me more about this guy. What's his name?"

"His name's Royce. He goes to UCLA, and his dad owns some small, independent record label. I met him at the gym and he has a nice body from what I saw. He's seems cool, but I'm sure he's, like, more experienced and stuff. God, what did I get myself into?"

"Relax. It will be fine. I'll call you an hour into your date, and if you aren't having a good time, you can fake an emergency and split," Alice said in attempt to soothe her. "I do it all the time. It works like a charm."

"Okay… Yeah, that's a good idea."

Alice put me to work curling Rose's hair into soft spirals while she painted her nails to match the shoes they'd finally settled on. The two of them came up with multiple outrageous tales that Rose could tell Royce should she want to bail on the date early.

"I thought Emmett was going to shit bricks when he heard you say you were going out with an older guy," I blurted without thinking.

"Wait, what?" Rose asked incredulously.

"Yeah. He seems really protective of you. You two dated before, right?" I asked hoping I wasn't crossing any lines.

"Um, not officially. I mean, we dated, but we were never together. It's kind of a long story."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry. I just noticed he seemed jealous, I guess. That's all."

Rose remained quiet for a moment, staring down at her freshly painted nails. When she glimpsed up at Alice and me, she looked lost and sad.

"I first went out with Emmett freshman year. He was the most gorgeous guy that had ever paid attention to me, and I was completely taken with him. On only our third date, we lost our virginity to each other. We've had a handful of one night stands together since then, but he's the only guy I've ever slept with. I don't think he even knows that." Tears welled up in her eyes, and she began to sniffle. "I was so in love with him… I guess I still am, but…"

"Aww, honey, why are you going out with these other guys if you're so clearly in love with Emmett? He seems really great, and he obviously still cares about you," Alice asked.

"Because I was too easy. I practically threw myself at him, and now he just thinks I'm an easy score. He was all I ever wanted, and I screwed it all up." She started crying harder while Alice and I held her, swiping away at our own tears.

After the crying subsided, we worked together to get Rosalie cleaned up and ready for her date. I apologized for bringing up such a sensitive subject to which she just shook her head at me and gave me a warm hug. She looked stunning, with legs for days, in a dark denim mini skirt juxtaposed to her delicate ivory peasant top, finished off with a pair of red peep-toe heels.

"You look amazing. Do you know where Royce is taking you?" I asked as we walked downstairs to wait for his arrival.

"Nope. I gave him the address to pick me up here at seven o'clock for dinner. That's all I know."

When we walked into the living room, Edward was reclined on the couch watching television. He looked up when he heard the click of Rose's heels on the Spanish tiles. His eyes widened as he took in her attire, and I felt each insecurity I'd experienced throughout past few weeks come flooding back. Then his eyes found mine, and his lips turned up at the corner into a shy smile. My petty insecurities were immediately washed away and replaced with a feeling of complete adoration. He made me feel beautiful and desirable. I flashed him my own bashful grin and slowly made my way over to him.

The rest of the room fell away as I approached. He made room for me on the couch and lightly patted the seat next to him. I sat primly perched on the edge and whispered a 'hi' to which he replied with his own whispered greeting.

Esme came flitting through the room just then. "Bella! Hello, dear. Edward said you were staying for dinner to spend some time with him, is this true?" she questioned with obvious excitement. I was a bit surprised that Edward had been so candid with his mom about my visit.

"Yes, if that's okay."

"Of course, dear. Dinner is almost ready. Carlisle is actually taking me out tonight—our first date night since the move. I'm so excited."

"Aww, he still takes you on dates? That's so sweet." I guess that explained where Edward got his romantic inclinations from.

"Yes, almost twenty years of marriage, and we're as close as ever, if not closer."

"Your parents are amazing," I said after Esme headed back into the kitchen. "Twenty years is quite a feat."

"Yeah, they really love each other. Um… how about your parents?" I wasn't quite ready to give Edward the full, unabridged version of my life story yet, so I told him the quick, publicly acceptable one.

"Uh, my parents are divorced, and I live with my dad. My mom left us when I was five…. I hardly ever see her."

"Geez, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It was a long time ago."

"Must have been difficult, growing up without a mom."

"Yeah, it had its moments, but my dad is really great."

"He must be to have raised such an amazing person." I found myself blushing furiously at his statement. Would I ever be able to take a compliment from him without it sending my blush into overdrive? It didn't seem likely.

"Royce just pulled up," Alice squealed from the other side of the room, breaking me from my Edward-induced trance. I got up to see Rose off and wish her luck on her date.

The doorbell rang, and Rose walked over with an air of confidence to greet her date, her hips swaying as if she were on a cat walk. I envied her ability to check her nerves at the door and put on such a poised façade.

A young man stepped into the foyer looking a little uncomfortable to have such a large audience to pick up his date for the evening. He had deep blue eyes, dark brown hair arranged impeccably without a strand out of place, and a strong build. He looked to be a couple inches shorter than Edward, but still tall enough to look good standing next to the likes of Rosalie.

Rose made quick introductions of everyone and waved at us as she stepped out into the cool evening air with her new beau. Alice flashed her an enthusiastic thumbs up in approval and then made a telephone sign with her hand, promising to call one hour into the date.

Shortly after they left, Esme and Carlisle came downstairs dressed to the nines for an evening out on the town. Esme let us know that dinner was in the oven and ready to be enjoyed. We bid them farewell, and the three of us headed into the kitchen to eat.

"So, Alice, how are things with Jasper? You two seem awfully cozy every time I see you together. Matter of a fact, I don't think I've seen him much without you recently." I asked as we feasted on Esme's delicious enchilada casserole.

She beamed at me in reply. "Things are good. He's taking me surfing tomorrow, actually. Then we're spending the day together."

"He still hasn't kissed you?" I asked, baffled by the idea of Jasper taking something so slow.

Alice bit her lip and shook her head slowly, but she was still smiling. "No, but I think he just wants me to know that he's in this for real. I'm not worried about it. I know it will happen when the time is right."

"Like, maybe when you're bobbing out on the water tomorrow?" I teased.

"Maybe!"

"Don't encourage her," Edward said playfully. "All I hear about any more is Jasper this and Jasper that." I giggled as his voice went high trying to impersonate Alice.

"Oh, shut up. You haven't been much better yourself, mister," she teased, causing Edward's ears to glow red. "Okay, I'm going to go call Jasper and leave you two alone to do whatever it is you're going to do," she said suggestively, earning a balled up napkin tossed her way from Edward. She laughed as she ran out of the room and up the stair case singing, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Edward turned his emerald gaze back to me and asked what I would like to do. After running through the options, we settled on a movie. I couldn't tell you what we ended up watching because I was too busy noting the way his arm was draped behind me on the back of the couch and every twitch his lips made as he watched the film.

My whole body was lit up with energy being that close to him. At some point, he lowered his arm down to rest on my shoulder. He started to softly stroke my hair, and I felt my head begin to lean into his touch on its own accord. He turned his focus from the flat screen to his hand in my hair as his eyes followed its movement. His eyes—swimming with devotion—locked on mine, and the air around us crackled with tension. With the way he was looking at me, it was all I could do to contain myself and keep from begging him to forget about my request for some time and just kiss me already. Thankfully for my self-control—or lack thereof—Alice came bounding down the stairs ending the magical moment.

She eyed us nervously before speaking up, "I'm sorry for intruding, but I need to go pick up Rose."

"Oh, no. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, but it sounds like her date got a little handsy. She doesn't want to stay with him, and she's too nervous to ask him to take her home. She called me from the women's restroom at the restaurant."

"Okay, we can all go pick her up," I suggested, pulling my body up and away from Edward who looked more than a little put out by the idea.

Alice laughed at his expression. "Sorry, Edward. I know how much this evening meant to you. Maybe you could just give me your keys, and I could go pick her up so you don't have to interrupt your time with Bella?"

"Alice," he reprimanded. "That'll just get us both in trouble. You don't even have your license yet."

"Yeah, I don't mind going, Alice. I don't want you to get in trouble," I interjected.

"Come on. It's just down the street. Give me the keys, and I'll be right back. You won't even have time to miss me," she whined. "Plus, you'll have the house all to yourselves," she sang, trying to appeal to our desire to be alone.

"Pick her up and come _right_ back here." Edward said with an air of authority as he fished his keys out of his jean pocket.

"I promise."

We resumed pretending to watch the movie as soon as she left. The tension that her presence dissipated returned instantly. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see the steady rise and fall of his chest with every breath he took. His arm moved suddenly, leaving the backs of our hands pressed together on the couch between our thighs. Slowly, he drug hand back and forth caressing mine. The sensations he was causing were so powerful I thought I might combust.

After a moment, he slid his hand on top of mine pressing our palms together. I looked down at our hands and watched in wonder as he slipped his fingers between mine, interlocking our hands. I let out an audible sigh at the feeling of him holding my hind. It was so simple, yet so intimate. Prompted by my sigh, he peered over at me with a questioning look in his eyes—uncertain if his gesture was well received.

The sudden buzzing of his cell phone across the surface of the coffee table caused us to jump apart. He picked it up and furrowed his eyebrow in concern before pressing the 'talk' button.

"Hello… What? Oh my god. Where are you? Okay… Yeah… Did you call the police? That's fine… Is anyone hurt?"

I stared at him expectantly, trying in vain to decipher the one sided phone conversation. As soon as he hung up, he turned to face me with wild, anxious eyes and said the words that made my stomach drop out.

"Alice and Rose were in a car accident."

"Oh my god. Are they okay?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so. Just a little shaken up. I hate to ask you this, but can you give me a ride?" he asked, the panic and worry evident in his voice.

"Of course. You don't even have to ask." Without over thinking it, I grabbed his hand firmly in mine, interlocking our fingers once more and giving it a reassuring squeeze as I hastily pulled him behind me and out to my truck.

xxx

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**French Translations**  
belle – beautiful  
Je suis désolé – I'm sorry  
le maître – the master  
Les belles fleurs pour une belle fille. – Beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl.

**A/N:** *Gasp* A cliffie! Anyone remember the accident in 90210 when Brenda and Kelly took Brandon's car and rear ended someone? Well this one is a bit different, but don't worry no one is hurt. Are we feeling better about Bella and Edward now? I know I am. The masses seemed divided on who hated Bella for turning Edward down, and those who thought he needed to try harder last chapter. Hope all of you enjoyed this less angsty update! I'm so excited for the next few upcoming chapters. They've been playing out in my head since the beginning. Good times!

Thank you to the usual suspects, my beta Hibbleton78 and prereader Holly1989. These gals are pure win! Love you both! Come join us over on the Twilighted thread for some fic recs and fun discussion. Link is on my profile.

Let me know what you thought. Reviews get teased!


	9. Sentenced to Life

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its beautiful characters. This story is loosely based off of plot lines from the original Beverly Hills, 90210 TV series. I have taken many liberties with them. No infringement is intended to any media franchise. The remainder is my original work.

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**Chapter 9  
"Sentenced to Life"**

Guilt. That was the only label that suited the intense emotion pulling me under, shoving me towards a full blown panic attack. A car accident—my sister was in a fucking accident and it was all my fault. As my mind frantically raced to grasp the severity of the situation, I heard myself ask Bella for a ride, my body on auto-pilot. She tugged me out the door and we were on our way before I had time to process what was happening.

Between us, our hands laid clasped together on the bench seat of her ancient truck. She squeezed my hand in tender reassurance as we barreled down the quiet, residential street that had quickly become home to me.

"Where are they exactly?" she asked, her voice shaking with nerves and a touch of her own guilt over the circumstances.

"Not too far. It sounds like they're right where Cold Water Canyon splits off of Beverly," I replied robotically as I motioned for her to turn right onto Cold Water Canyon Drive.

"You may have to direct me when we get closer. I don't know this neighborhood very well."

I nodded mutely and an anxious silence enveloped us as we made our way down the twisty road.

I squinted into the bright glare of the setting sun, trying in vain to watch for any sign of Alice or Rose. I used my free hand to shield my eyes from the flickers of blinding light as we rounded the curves and made our way down the Beverly Hills. Bella was craning her neck to sit up straight, attempting to hide behind the truck's rickety old visor.

"Can you go any faster?" I whined desperately.

"I'm sorry. I'm trying. The sun is blinding me, and this truck doesn't stop very quickly going downhill."

I wanted to scream every time she had to pause at a stop sign, the short drive seeming to take hours to accomplish. I felt numb and panicked all at the same time. My heart was still in my throat from the unexpected phone call, and I knew I wouldn't get a grip on my emotions until I could see with my own eyes that Alice was okay.

A loud, sudden blaring of a horn caused me to jump as Bella slammed on her breaks. An older man in a black Mercedes yelled obscenities out his window and flipped us off as he plowed through the intersection that Bella almost ran. My heart was pounding in my chest from the close call.

Bella was close to tears as she looked over at me in alarm, "I'm so sorry! I couldn't see the stop sign."

Mere moments later, I spotted the flashing emergency lights of my old silver Volvo up on an embankment in the distance. At the late twilight hour of the day it was difficult to make out much detail, but there didn't appear to be any other vehicles involved.

Bella slowed her truck to a crawl as we approached the scene of the accident. She made a careful u-turn and pulled up behind the car, which I could now distinguish, was wrapped around a tree. I was out of the truck and running to Alice before Bella had even come to a complete stop. I scooped up my sister into a tight hug, squishing her to my chest, reassuring myself that she was all right.

"I was so scared," I sighed into her hair. When I heard a distinct sniffle, I pulled back just enough to see her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and swimming with unshed tears.

"Sorry…so sorry…shouldn't have…all my fault…gonna be so upset," she mumbled incoherently into my shirt between shuddering sobs. My protective, brotherly instincts kicked in and I wrapped my arms more securely around her and shushed away her worries.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt at all?" I asked, taking a step back to examine her small frame.

"No, I'm fine. Nothing hurts."

"How about you? Are you hurt?" I directed at Rose, who was clutching Bella, looking just as scared as Alice and maybe even a little ill.

"I'm okay," she replied in a small voice.

"So what happened?" I asked after determining that neither of them was in need of medical attention.

Alice peered up at me looking ashamed and swallowed hard before launching into her explanation. "Um, I was distracted. I lost control coming around the corner and popped the curb and then hit the tree. I tried to stop in time, but it was too late." She swiped at her watery eyes. "I'm so sorry, Edward. I didn't mean to wreck your car. Please don't be mad at me. I'll tell mom and dad that it was all my fault."

Rose came to stand beside her, presenting a united front, as if I would have put up any argument after willingly handing over my keys to my sister. "It was an accident, Edward. There were headlights approaching quickly behind us, and we got a little scared. Royce saw me leaving the restaurant, and he ran out to the parking lot after me. I thought he might be following us. We both kind of freaked out… and then it all just happened so fast. I'm so sorry. Please don't be mad at Alice. This is all because of me. I shouldn't have gone out with that dickhead in the first place. She was just trying to help me out."

"He followed you?" I raged. All three girls' eyes widened at my lethal tone. "Fuck. I'm such an idiot. I never should have let you go alone. He could've…" I couldn't even finish the thought I was so disgusted with myself.

"It's okay, Edward. You were just a little distracted. It's not like I asked you to drive me," Alice reassured, attempting to relieve me of my surmounting guilt, but in actuality having the opposite effect.

My eyes flicked to Bella who had her head down anxiously studying her clasped hands but was unable to hide her flushed cheeks even in the dim evening light. I sighed and nodded my acquiescence at my sister, frustrated with my own poor decision making but not wanting to upset the girls anymore. The situation at hand was stressful enough without adding more to it.

I stepped away from the group to call for a tow truck. Since there were no other vehicles involved in the accident, and reporting it would negatively affect Alice's future ability to obtain a license I decided against calling the police. The dispatcher from the towing company told me there would be someone on scene in twenty to thirty minutes to help us with the car. After taking care of the tow truck, I braced myself for the next phone call I had to make.

"Hello?" his deep voice sounded through my cell phone.

"Dad? It's Edward." I chose my next words carefully, hoping to avoid any unnecessary panic. "Listen, everyone is okay, but there's been an accident... Alice was in a car accident."

"A car accident? Where are you? Is anyone injured?"

As calmly as possible, I explained to my dad what had happened. I heard him whisper a few details to my mom, but for the most part he remained eerily quiet as I recounted the events of the evening to him.

"I want you to have the car towed back to the house. I'll deal with it tomorrow. You will both go straight home as soon as the tow truck leaves. Your mother and I are on our way. We'll talk when we get home," he instructed in an authoritative manner.

"Yes, sir," I squeaked out, already dreading the pending chastisement.

"Very good. And, Edward?"

"Yes?"

"I love you, son. Take care of your sister." The emotion in his voice caused my throat to constrict painfully.

"I will. Love you, too." I disconnected the call and walked back over to where the girls were huddled. Just as I sidled up between Alice and Bella to wait for the tow truck, my phone rang.

Glancing at it, I murmured, "It's Emmett," before answering.

"Hello."

"Eddie! Just wanted to see how the date was going. You made a move yet?" he teased. My insides warmed for the first time since Alice's phone call that changed the course of the evening. I smiled involuntarily and chanced a glance at Bella's lovely profile next to me as I recalled the sweet tension that had hung in the air between us, the way her small, warm hand had fit so perfectly into mine. The curious looks the girls were casting me brought me back to the grim circumstances we currently found ourselves in.

"Hey, Em. Listen, now's not really a good time. Can I call you back later? Alice and Rose were in an accident tonight, and we're waiting for a tow right now."

"Fuck. An accident! Are they okay? How's Rosie? I thought she was on a date with that college asshole tonight."

My eyes slid up to meet Rose's expectant ones. "Uh, yeah, she was. It's kind of a long story, but they're okay."

"Good, good. I'll let you go, but call me later when you have everything settled. 'Kay?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. Take care, man."

"Bye."

I'd hardly disconnected the call when Rose's phone beeped with a new text message. She smiled softly as she read it, and I knew without needing to ask that it was Emmett checking up on her. He wore his heart on his sleeve where she was concerned. It was obvious to everyone—except Rose—that he was in love with her.

I wrapped a comforting arm around my sister's shoulders as we waited quietly in a tense circle, each of fretting over the consequences of the situation. Bella wrapped her arms around her middle and nervously toed at the ground while Rose anxiously shifted her weight from one foot to the other and back again. Alice laid her head on my shoulder and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.

"So… did you guys at least have fun tonight?" my sister asked unabashedly as she peered up at me with a gentle smile, attempting to lighten the atmosphere.

Bella's head popped up at the question, and I delighted in the hint of joy I felt at the way she looked so eager to hear my answer. I grinned as I reached my free hand over to hold one of hers, relishing in the new found level of closeness between us.

"Yeah, we had a great time... or at least I did," I said, answering my sister but staring directly into Bella's eyes. I chuckled at Alice and Rose's collective 'aww' as they took in our clasped hands and Bella's contented smile.

Flashing orange emergency lights advancing in the distance pulled me from the tender moment as the tow truck finally arrived on scene. I approached the driver and introduced myself after he climbed down from his truck. He immediately went to work assessing the situation and setting up a series of cables and pulleys to lift the wreckage up onto the bed of the truck.

As my car was pulled away from the tree, I could see that there was definite damage to the frame. The front of the car was crunched in, the bumper bent at an odd angle, both headlights busted, and the hood rumpled in. I only hoped that it could be repaired and wouldn't be a total loss.

When the car was secured and ready to go, I elected to ride with the driver back to our house since only three people could fit in the cab of Bella's truck. The girls followed slowly behind us as we made our way back up the winding hills.

The three of them stood in the front yard watching and waiting as I settled the insurance paperwork with the tow truck driver. After he departed, I approached them knowing that I needed to cut our evening short.

"Our parents are on their way, so…"

"Yeah, we'll get out of your hair," Rose replied somberly. "Thank you for everything, and good luck with the parentals. For what it's worth, I really am sorry."

"It's not your fault," I replied with sincerity. She nodded dismissively and gave both of the girls a hug before pivoting on her heel and heading over to her car.

Bella embraced Alice and said goodnight, before turning to me with a tentative smile. My sister quietly disappeared into the house, leaving us to awkwardly fumble through our parting in private. I ran a nervous hand over my face as I tried to come up with something brilliant to say, not wanting the memory of this evening to be completely marred.

Taking an uncertain step forward, I addressed Bella, "I'm sorry our evening was ruined, but I really did have a great time hanging out with you. I hope we can do it again… soon." She bit her plump bottom lip trying to contain her smile and nodded demurely.

"I'd like that," she assured.

I reached out to her, tenderly tracing the back of my fingers from her shoulder down the length of her slender arm until my palm was pressed flat against hers. I took another step closer, bringing my other hand to hers as well. With our fingers entwined, palms pressed, chests heaving with anticipation, I leaned forward and softly placed an affectionate kiss on her forehead.

"_Bonsoir, mon petit chou_," I whispered against her cheek.

Her sudden intake of breath left me smiling against her, my lips so close to where I wanted them to be. She caught me by surprise when she used our clasped hands as leverage, squeezing tightly she stretched up to leave a peck on my right cheek. My face automatically turned into hers, feeling her warmth, breathing her in.

The headlights of my father's car pulling into the driveway caused us to jump apart for the second time in as many hours.

Bella shot me a shy smile as she murmured, "I should get going. Night."

"Drive safe!" I called after her, feeling irrationally protective of her after the scare of the accident.

After Bella had pulled away from the house, I entered the house ready to face the music. My parents were just walking in from the garage as I quietly closed the front door behind me. Their faces were both clouded with warring emotions ranging from concern, fear, anger and relief.

My dad signaled for me to follow him into the living room, but before I could get my feet to move, I felt my shoulders slouch in defeat and heard a despondent chorus of 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry' pour from my lips. I had finally caved against the intense wave of guilt that started building the moment I'd handed Alice my keys. Instantly I was engulfed in the comforting arms of my mother, her wet cheek pressed tightly against mine. I heard her whispering maternal words of love and reassurance to me.

I pulled back to see my dad and sister in a very similar embrace—momma's boy and daddy's girl. It had been that way our entire lives. I didn't know if it was a twin thing, complementing personalities, or perhaps just the way things worked out when you had both a son and a daughter, but my mom had always been my comfort and my dad my role model.

We convened in the living room, and I was resigned to accept whatever punishment they felt was fitting. Alice sidled up next to me on the couch, sniffling and swiping at her stray tears. My dad sat directly across from us in one of the club chairs, while my mom tucked herself on the other side of Alice and wrapped her arms around her in an attempt to calm her.

"Well, I'm glad that everyone is okay. You scared the hell out of us. Your mother was a nervous wreck on the drive home. Now, who's going to tell me what the hell happened?" Dad started.

I started to clear my throat to find my voice, but Alice beat me to it.

"It was my fault, Daddy, all my fault. Rose called me for a ride, and I convinced Edward to give me his keys."

"You don't even have your license!" he roared, his anger finally getting the best of him. "Do you realize the kind of trouble you could have been—hell, that _we_ could have been in—if you would have hit another car?"

"And you," he yelled, redirecting his anger at me, "what in god's name were you thinking giving your sister your keys? What if she would have been hurt…or worse?" His eyes began to well up with fear, unable to give voice to the worst case scenario.

I swallowed past the lump in my own throat and held eye contact with him as I nodded and accepted responsibility for my actions. "I have no excuse. It was stupid, and I'm so sorry."

"Well, you're both grounded…for eternity…with no car privileges." He paused to give me a hard look. "It looks like it very well might be totaled anyway, but if it's not you'll have to figure out a way to pay the insurance co-pay for the repairs out of your own pocket. You need to learn responsibility. I entrusted you with that car, and you didn't take care of it. It was your responsibility to prevent anyone else from driving it. If you want it back, you'll have to figure out how to juggle a job with school and all of your extracurricular activities."

Turning to Alice, he continued, "And you will not be getting your license until you are eighteen. No ifs, ands, or buts. You will retake driver's education and training. Driving is serious business. Your life and the lives of others around you are at stake every time you get behind that wheel. You're clearly not ready for that yet."

After another twenty minutes of lecturing, which Alice and I endured in obedient silence in a feeble attempt to lessen the severity of our punishment, we quietly made up the stairs to sulk in the privacy of our bedrooms.

"Guess I'll go call Jasper and let him know I won't be able to go out with him tomorrow," Alice muttered with sad eyes before turning to enter her room, clearly destroyed that she would have to postpone her first real date with him.

That night and the rest of the weekend crept by at snail's pace. I yearned for Monday and the reprieve that a day at school would offer. My dad was pissed, and he took advantage of every opportunity to remind us of the fact. My mom coddled us, still reeling with the horrid possibilities and outcomes had the accident been any worse.

Monday morning found me in the front seat of my mom's car with my knee bouncing in anticipation, while my sister sat in the back texting and grinning at her phone.

"Eager for school, are we?" my mom asked with a knowing smile dancing on her lips.

"Well we are grounded 'for eternity,'" I said using air quotations, my voice dripping with sarcasm as I repeated my dad's words.

"Your father will lighten up soon enough. He was just scared. You kids are our whole world, whether you realize it or not."

"I know… and I deserve his punishment or worse." My mom reached over and patted my knee.

"Do you still have plans to study with Bella after school today?"

My eyes widened comically at her question. "Is that even allowed?" I asked, ever hopeful.

"I don't see why not. You made a commitment to help her and it should be upheld. I think Alice should stay with the two of you, though. Keep it to studying only, this is not a social call."

"Okay. I'm not sure if she has to work tonight or not. I'll call and let you know if we need a ride."

"Sounds fair. Have a good day kids."

Alice and I approached our friends loitering on the front steps of the main building at school. Emmett had his arm slung around Rose, who was tucked securely into his side with a content smile on her face. Ben was standing behind Angela, his arms wrapped her waist and his chin on her shoulder whispering in her ear. Bella and Jasper were both leaning against the stair railing, Bella positioned a couple steps above him so that they were standing shoulder to shoulder. They were chatting happily with matching grins on their faces. They looked good together—really good—and I felt of a pang of jealousy as we approached.

Of course my irrational jealousy was unfounded and instantly put at ease by Bella's breathtaking smile the moment we locked eyes. I hardly noticed Jasper whoosh by me as he whisked Alice off her feet, spun her around, and dipped down to her level in a very public, very enthusiastic first kiss. My eyes remained trained on Bella as she giggled at the sight, she mesmerized me.

"Sorry about that. I couldn't wait a second longer," Jasper stated with a thrilled smirk after he had detached his lips from my sister. I shook my head, chuckling, and chose to ignore the spectacle they were making.

I assumed Jasper's abandoned position on the step in front of Bella. My heart threatening to pound out of my chest as I took in the way her thin, short sleeved, red sweater clung to her lovely body, highlighting her supple curves. Her hair was down, falling past her shoulders in shiny, bouncy curls. Her skin appeared brighter, her eyes somehow bigger, and her lips more plump than usual.

My gaze fell to her delicate hands that were clutching the steel railing next to where her hips leaned against it. My heart sped as I recalled the way her hand had felt encased in mine on Friday night. I glanced back up into her eyes, which were level with my own for once.

"Hi," she breathed with a coy smile, her voice barely above a whisper.

"_Bonjour, mon petit chou,"_ I replied, giving her what I hoped was a sexy smile.I glimpsed down at her hand next to mine, wondering if it would be okay to hold it again. Last time we were alone, but now anyone at school would be able to see. I craved the feel of her and the closeness that the simple act would bring, but I didn't want to push her too far too fast. I settled for parroting her position, leaning against the railing beside her, allowing my fingers to ghost over hers before I pressed the side of my hand firmly against hers as I grasped the railing.

As our friends' conversations swelled around us, I noticed her peering down at our hands where they were pressed together, and then—ever so slowly—her pinky caressed the top of my fingers and then linked with mine. I stood there with a stupid, happy grin as she held my pinky.

"Dude?" I heard Emmett crow in question, bringing me back to the group surrounding us.

"Huh?" I asked, unsure of what he was talking about.

"No car?"

"Oh… yeah… no car."

"Oh, no. Is it totaled?" Bella inquired.

"Um, I don't know yet, but my folks want me to pay the damages if it can be repaired, so it's gonna be a while."

"That sucks, man."

"Aww, I'm so sorry."

"Dude, that blows."

I shrugged at the round of sympathies thrown at me, not feeling the least bit deserving of them.

"I'll pay half," my sister suddenly spoke up, sounding resolved.

"No, you don't—"

"Yes, I do," she interrupted. "I was the one driving. It was my idea, my fault. Let me do this." I saw the raw sincerity and guilt shining in her eyes and nodded my consent.

About the time that we all fell back into lighter conversation, the first bell rang indicating it was time to start heading to our separate classes. As we gathered our backpacks and started to part ways, none other than Lauren and Jessica walked past us.

"Morning," Jessica called out in a sing-song voice blatantly looking Jasper up and down at the same time. Alice reacted immediately, tugging him away from the group and towards the direction of her locker.

Lauren paused to leer at Bella's hand next to mine, her flirtatious smile changing immediately to a bitchy scowl. Throwing caution to the wind, I grabbed Bella's hand firmly in mine and tugged her tiny body closer to me. Her eyebrows raised in question at my bold actions until she noticed Lauren staring at us in disgust.

She shocked the hell out of me when she reached up and wound her arms around my neck twining her fingers into the hair at the nape of my neck, bringing us face to face. My arms reacted on their own accord, wrapping tightly around her waist and hugging her close. I could taste her breath and feel her warmth, making the urge to just kiss her really fucking hard to fight.

Bella smirked at me with a mischievous glint in her eye, and asked loudly, "Walk me to class, Edward?"

I bit back a smile at this devious side of her, enjoying the sight of her putting Lauren in her place for once, hoping that my attentions had something to do with this new found self-confidence.

"Always," I said just as loud, grinning against her cheek.

As soon as Lauren stalked off with an exasperated huff, Bella and I broke apart laughing.

"Damn," Rose exclaimed, alerting us that we were not alone as Rose and Emmett had apparently waited behind for me to join them on the trek to our history class.

"Marking your territory, Bella?" Emmett teased her before turning to me. "You coming, dude?"

"Um… I'll see you there. Promised to walk _someone_ to class," I said with a wink and a smirk, chuckling when Bella's cheeks colored and she immediately reverted back from sex kitten to the shy girl that I'd come to adore.

We walked in relative silence to the end of hall of the main building where her English class was located. My pulse accelerated every time the back of her fingers brushed with mine as our hands swung freely between us. By the time we parted ways—grinning at each other until the moment she disappeared behind her classroom door—I had to sprint all the way to my class. Emmett and Rose each shot me suggestive looks as I flew into my seat a split second after the bell rang and covertly gave them the finger.

The morning passed way too slowly for my liking, seeing as all I could focus on was how much longer it would be until I got to see Bella at lunch. I wanted to find out if she had to work after school, or if I would be rewarded with some more alone time with her. Unfortunately, by the time my favorite part of the day rolled around I was running late because Coach had pulled me aside to let me know that I'd made the baseball team. I thanked him and dashed off to the courtyard to proclaim the good news to my friends.

When I was within viewing distance of our table, I noticed that kid, Seth Black, was sitting between Bella and Rose with Alice and Angela crowding close by. I slowed my pace as I tried to figure out what was going on. The girls were all talking excitedly around him, but Seth was gazing at Bella in a way that should be illegal. Ben, Jasper, Emmett and Mike were on the opposite side of the table glaring at the source of the girls' attention.

I tried to ignore the pang of hurt that shot through me when I realized Bella wasn't missing me nearly as much as I was her. I tossed my brown bagged lunch and Bella's favorite soda down on the table in front of the only empty spot and sandwiched myself between Mike and Ben. My stomach sank a little more when she didn't even look up or greet me.

"What are they talking about?" I asked no one in particular while staring purposefully down at my lunch.

"Fucking Jacob Black's movie premiere. I told them I could get tickets, but do they listen to me? Nooooo," Emmett grouched.

"Dude, I'm gonna kick his freshman ass if doesn't stop ogling Bells," Jasper threatened, to which I had to nod in agreement.

"Hello. I'm right here," Ben said sarcastically, waving his hand obnoxiously in Angela's direction.

"Chicks, I tell ya. And they say we objectify them," Mike grumbled.

"We can hear you, ya know," Alice retorted, "and you're just jealous because none of us our objectifying you right now," she finished with a triumphant smirk, earning the attention of Seth and the rest of the girls. The kid suddenly looked very uncomfortable surrounded by all the girls, with the five of us glaring at him.

"Uh, I should probably split," he said, narrowing his eyes at me. "My buddies are waiting for me. I'll call you later with the deets, Bella."

_He had her phone number? _

I knew I had no hold on her, no valid reason to be jealous, but I was. After Seth's departure, I remained quiet and focused on my lunch in front of me. It was irrational, but I was too irritated to look up and see Bella laughing obliviously with her girlfriends while all could think about was her. I knew she wanted time, but I was quickly realizing that waiting for her to come around was going to be harder than I thought. I couldn't even entertain the thought of what would happen if she decided she didn't want to give us a chance.

I peeked up just enough to notice that the Diet Sunkist I had bought for her, like I did every day, was still sitting in front of me. I picked it up and turned it around in my hands for a moment, before I worked up the nerve to look at her. What I saw staring back at me confounded me. Bella was chewing her bottom lip, like she did whenever she was worried or anxious, and her brow was creased in confusion. She was gazing at the can in my hands. I held it up in silent offering, and her eyes dashed up to meet mine. She looked at me in question, but of what I wasn't sure.

My eyes slid back down to my lunch as I thrust the can towards Ben. "Can you pass this to Bella, please?" I asked quietly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the white can circle half way around the table until it was in her hands. I glanced up again when I heard the familiar pop and fizz of the can opening, only to be greeted by sad, bewildered brown eyes. She swiftly looked down, avoiding my gaze, and blushed profusely. It wasn't the sweet, shy blush that I adored though. It was the humiliated blush that I'd witnessed on my first day when Jessica and Lauren were harassing her. I instantly felt like a dick for making her feel that way, but I didn't know what to say either. She was free to flirt with whoever the hell she wanted. I had no say, she wasn't mine. It didn't mean I had to like it.

I finished my lunch in a tense silence, not having much of an appetite left. I balled up my brown bag and started to stand to throw it away when Emmett got my attention.

"Hey man, did Coach talk to you yet?"

"Uh, yeah. I made the team. First string, second baseman," I replied with a forced smile.

"Sweet!"

"Congrats, dude."

I was given a round of bro hugs as the guys each offered their congratulations. My sister jumped up to give me a bouncy squeeze and squeal in support as I made my way around the table. I peered over the top of her head at Bella, who had stood unexpectedly. I walked over to her, unable to fight the urge to be near her any longer. She gave me an unsure smile and whispered her own congrats.

"Are you okay?" she asked in a hushed tone so that no one else could hear.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said just as quietly, shoving my hands in my back jeans pockets to keep myself from unconsciously reaching out to her.

"Shouldn't you be happier? I thought you were excited about playing baseball again."

"I am happy. I'm just…"

"Did I do something wrong?" she worried.

"No. Of course not." She didn't look convinced so I figured I didn't have much of choice but to try and explain my actions. "It's just… do you like him?"

"Who?"

"Seth?"

"What? No! I mean, we're friends, but I don't _like him_ like him." She looked incredulous, as she questioned, "Oh my god. Were you jealous?"

I shrugged sheepishly in a way that clearly said 'yes, I was insane with jealousy.'

"Wow. No one has ever been jealous of me before."

"I highly doubt that."

She took a step forward, closing the space between us and placing her small hands firmly on my chest. "You know there's nothing to be jealous about, right? I said I needed some time to figure out if I wanted a romantic relationship, but you are the _only_ guy I would want that with."

I couldn't help but smile at her confident statement. "Really?"

"Really."

"Do you have to work tonight?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well that sucks. I'm grounded, but my mom said I could still study with you if you were available. I was hoping to spend some more time with you… I mean, assuming you didn't mind giving me a ride."

"Oh. That does suck," she replied, looking just as despondent about it as I felt. "Hey, what if I give you a lift home?"

"Do you have time for that?"

"Sure. You live so close to the library anyway. It's perfect."

After lunch we walked together to Journalism. Bella spent most of the class reviewing outlines and drafts from other students and helping Ben sort through the hundreds of photos he had taken for the next monthly publication. Even though I didn't exactly enjoy sharing her with the other students, I admired her dedication and poise when she was in her element.

"What class do you have next?" I asked her as we packed up our things after the bell rang.

"Anatomy and Physiology."

"Well, may I walk you to class?" I offered.

"You may, but it's just across the hall," she giggled.

"Anatomy, huh?" I asked, heavy on the innuendo, as we made the three steps across the hall together.

"Behave and get to class," she replied, giving my arm a playful shove.

"I'll see you in French, _mon petit chou._"

"What does that mean?" she asked suspiciously. I just laughed as turned in the direction of my calculus class.

When eighth period rolled around, I waited outside the classroom for Bella, who greeted me with a gorgeous smile when she arrived. I opened the door and held it for her as I ushered her in. We took our usual seats, and Bella took advantage of the teacher not being in the room yet to organize her notes and prepare for the one class that she still struggled with.

I tried not to distract her as I gazed at the back of her head, admiring the way her mahogany tresses cascaded over her shoulders in shiny waves. I could just make the alluring curve of her tapered waist through the open back of her chair. A glimpse of ivory skin peeked out at me just above the waistline of her jeans.

"I love when you wear your hair down," I said absently as my hand reached out to stroke the length of it. I thrilled in the feeling of it silky smooth and inexplicably soft. The gentle movement released the scent of her shampoo into the air around us, the sweet fragrance of tropical flowers and coconut drifting over me. She was my own personal paradise.

A soft moan from Bella reminded me that I was still caressing her hair. I stilled my hand for a moment, concerned that I was pushing an unspoken boundary. I leaned forward just enough to catch a glimpse of the expression on her face and get a read on how this was affecting her. Her eyes appeared hooded and heavy, her demeanor tranquil, and her lips were parted in the most inviting way.

My motionless hand must have drawn her attention, because she suddenly turned her head bringing our faces within mere inches of each other. She looked at me skeptically, having caught me red handed staring at her plump lips in a lustful haze. I knew I had to recover and quickly with a valid excuse as to why I was invading her personal space again.

"Um…" I fumbled. "I just wanted to tell you—"

"_Etudiants d'attention! Calme s'il vous plait._ Are we ready to begin?" Madame Wand called out as strolled into the room, cutting me off and forcing me to lean back into my own seat. I felt like an idiot, but at least I was spared the embarrassment of gawking at her like a lovesick fool.

When the teacher began to pass back handouts from the front of the room, Bella spun in her seat to face me looking at me in concern.

"You okay?" she whispered. I nodded and took the papers from her turning to pass them to the girl behind me. She winked at me as I handed the stack to her, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. When I turned to face forward Bella was smirking at me with raised eyebrows.

"Another fan?" she mouthed, to which I playfully tapped the back of her head with my handout. I saw her shoulders shake in silence as she controlled her laughter.

I tore a single sheet of lined paper out of my notebook and scribbled a teasing note to her in one simple word.

_Jealous?_

I tapped her shoulder lightly to garner her attention, and then shoved the folded note into her left hand that was hanging loosely at her side. I saw her shake her head as she unfolded and read the note. A moment later the same piece of paper appeared on my desktop.

_No. I believe YOU were the one with the jealousy issue today._

She made a valid point. Her note was finished off with a little smiley face sticking its tongue out. I gave her smiley a bowtie and top hat and shoved the note back in her hand with my reply.

_I am sorry about lunch. Truly. Je suis désolé._

_Already forgiven and forgotten._

_Tu es dans toutes mes pensées._

_You know I don't know what that means, right?_

_Oui._

_Doesn't it seem a little wrong that my French tutor is distracting me by passing notes during class?_

_Seems fair enough to me. You distract me by simply breathing._

I never did get a reply to my last note, but I kept up trend the next day and the day after that. Bella and I grew closer and closer as our one-liners turned into short paragraphs that soon morphed into beautiful letters we exchanged between classes. Bella quickly became my best friend. I felt like I could tell her absolutely anything.

The progression of our physical relationship stalled at holding hands, hugs, and a few platonic pecks on the cheek and forehead. I was reeling to take the next step with her, but the fear of screwing up and pushing her away kept me from making my move.

She'd also volunteered to start driving Alice and me to and from school, claiming that we were on the way for her so it was not big deal. I hated to put her out, but the extra few minutes of precious time with her was too good to pass up. After a few days, Jasper caught on to the idea of additional alone time and started doing the same for Alice, leaving Bella and me to have a few moments each day to talk about anything and everything. It was the only high point to being grounded and losing my car. I hoped that the closer we got she would begin to lower some of her carefully constructed walls and finally let me in. I knew there were things about her that she still wasn't telling me, and I had a feeling a lot of it was the source of her hesitancy to move forward in a relationship.

After baseball practice began, the days started to fly by. I met with Bella after school for tutoring sessions every day that I didn't have practice or she didn't have to work, which was becoming few and far between. Playing ball was fulfilling, but it took up a lot of my free time. It felt good to be part of team and contributing in a positive way again though.

Days turned into weeks, but my parents never relented on the strict grounding they had implemented so I was caught off guard when I came home from a particularly draining practice to be told that my dad was taking my mom out of town for the weekend to celebrate their eighteenth anniversary. They would be flying up to Napa to see the wine country and gone from Friday morning through Monday evening.

Alice and I would have the house to ourselves, and because we had accepted our punishment without too much grumbling we would no longer be grounded. Of course, the other aspects of our punishment would still be upheld. I supposed my parents figured it was better to please us by granting some freedom and then set specific ground rules for the weekend rather than leave us on our own expecting us to rebel.

"Oh my god! We have to have a party," my twin exclaimed as she burst into my room uninvited.

"Alice, we can't have a party. We _just_ got un-grounded."

"Oh, come on. Live a little. I don't mean like some big kegger, just a few of our closest friends."

"I don't know…"

"Think about it. I could invite my girlfriends over for a sleep over. Bella would be here… All. Night. Long. You could invite the guys over to hang out…"

I didn't hear anything else she said as I was bombarded with sudden flashes of Bella prancing around my house in a tiny nighty. An entire fantasy played out behind my eyes about a late night rendezvous in the hallway, kissing her, touching her, my hands wandering every soft expanse of skin I could reach, pulling her into my bedroom and pushing her small body down into my mattress…

Alice's raucous laughter brought me out of my shameless daydream.

"Huh?" I questioned like an oblivious idiot.

She just smirked at my obviously lust driven space out. "Nothing... That was just entirely too easy. So, I'll tell the girls, you'll tell the guys?"

"Yeah, sure. Smartass."

"Ya know, you're surprisingly easy to manipulate when you're in love. I like it."

"Shut up. I'm not in love with her. I mean, we haven't even kissed." Even as I said the words, I couldn't fight the smile just the mere idea caused.

"Well, maybe you should do something about that this weekend."

_Maybe._

xxx

* * *

**French Translations:**  
_Etudiants d'attention! Calme s'il vous plait. – _Attention students! Quiet please._  
Je suis désolé. –_ I'm sorry  
_Tu es dans toutes mes pensées._ _–_ You are in all my thoughts.  
_Oui._ – Yes.

*Please note that neither my beta nor I speak French. We try our best and research like crazy, but we do not claim perfection.

**A/N: ** Happy New Year everyone! Things are starting to move along for our leading guy and gal. What do you think? You are not going to want to miss the next couple of chapters. We have some epic moments coming up, and I for one am very excited to share them with you! Edward is too… he's grinning like a loon waiting for what's to come.

I have a couple of things I forgot to mention in my last update. The first is that my Fandom for Preemies outtake from this story is now posted. You will find on my author profile, titled "Fish Tales." I will post all of my outtakes to this story, so alert it or author alert me if you don't want to miss any extra goodies. This first outtake is a Jasper/Bella pairing set before the Cullen's move to town. If that's not your thing, well consider yourself warned.

A huge thank you to Twistedinmasen of Wayward Pushers for her rec/push of TLF. Check out their blog at www (dot) ficpushers (dot) blogspot (dot) com.

I owe a special thank you to Bookishqua, who gave me some invaluable advice that helped spiff up the accident scene. Thanks BB! And last but definitely not least, two of the best friends a girl could ask for, thanks to Hibbleton78 who fixes all my erroneous commas and polishes up my words and Holly1980 who prereads. *mwah*

Tell me what you thought. Reviews get teased!


	10. The Party Fish

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its beautiful characters. This story is loosely based off of plot lines from the original Beverly Hills, 90210 TV series. I have taken many liberties with them. No infringement is intended to any media franchise. The remainder is my original work.

* * *

**Chapter 10  
"The Party Fish"**

My hips dipped and swayed to the hypnotizing dance beat pulsating from the Cullens' state of the art sound system. I would usually feel awkward about dancing in front of such a large crowd of people, but the small amount of alcohol currently pumping through my system from the single glass of champagne that Alice had all but forced upon me while we were getting ready seemed to quell my worries. I was managing to hold my own and move to the beat with some manner or grace and ease. The carefree smiles on my girlfriends' faces further encouraged my building desire to just cut loose and enjoy myself.

Angela, Alice, Rose, and I shimmied in a tight circle, looking like rock stars and feeling like divas. Lauren and Jessica were dancing right next to us, entirely too obvious in their superficial attempts to garner Rose's approval and acceptance. I was taken aback for a moment as I considered that I was actually part of the 'in crowd' now, how cliché. Not that Rose or Alice's friendship had in any way altered Lauren and Jessica's feelings about me. They made that fact abundantly clear on numerous occasions.

Alice's tiny body slid up along my back as she attempted to help me perfect the booty drop. I could feel the short, frayed denim skirt I was wearing slowly riding up my thighs and paused every few minutes to covertly tug it down. What I was wearing was certainly mild in comparison to some of the other girls' attire, but I still felt more exposed than I was really comfortable with. I wore my only mini skirt paired with a silky tank top in a gorgeous Prussian blue that Angela lent to me. On my feet were the sexiest shoes I had ever worn: a pair of matte silver kitten heel sandals that had the balls of my feet screaming at me, also courtesy of Angela.

She was a lifesaver, inviting me over earlier today to help me plan out what to wear and ensure that I had a suitable ensemble ready for when we headed over to the Cullens' in the afternoon to primp with Alice and Rose. She spared me the embarrassment of having to ask, and I adored her even more for looking out for me without allowing me to feel humiliated over something as inconsequential as clothing and accessories.

At first I had been leery at the prospect of a house party, even if it was at the Cullens'. The entire scene was fairly new to me. I had never been one to habitually party it up every weekend the way most kids my age did. Aside from being virtually invisible to most of my classmates in the past to even garner many invites, there always seemed to be something more important to consume my attention: tests that I needed to study for, articles that needed writing, editing and deadlines I held myself accountable for, work at the library and around the house. I had a lot of responsibilities and goals and very few reasons to celebrate.

But now… now I had a real reason to party, because I was going to tell the handsome boy that had been making eyes at me all evening that I was done thinking and wasting precious time. I was ready to be his in every sense of the word. I wanted to go on dates with him, call him my boyfriend, and kiss his beautiful mouth.

It was a ridiculous thought from the very start that I could ever resist the allure that was Edward Cullen. He had charmed me on that first day in French class with a simple smile, and then subsequently broke my tender adolescent heart—albeit unknowingly. He awakened such intense emotions in me, the likes of which I had never experienced before. He made me feel vulnerable, evoking a strong need and desire for him that honestly scared me. I had tried to push him away in a futile attempt to guard my own heart, yet through it all he had remained steadfast in his resolve that we belonged together.

He had captivated me with his brilliance and sweet personality. He had wooed me with his fluent French, romantic gestures, and chivalrous tendencies. Finally, he won me over, finding the one weakness that I could not disregard—his poetic writing.

A couple of weeks ago he began to write me the most remarkable letters. He always started them off teasing and light, but they each swiftly progressed to a more tender and personal tone. What began as some juvenile note passing had grown into something much more significant—something I knew I would always treasure.

He penned me beautiful letters interspersed with swoon inducing French phrases that I'd spent countless hours looking up word for word to decipher. The old fashioned means of communication felt shockingly intimate, as if he was baring another piece of his heart to me in each one. I learned so much about him through his correspondence. I wanted to do the same for him but forced myself to hold back just a little, feeling deceitful for not opening up completely and divulging all of my truths to him.

Now I had decided it was time to let go and move forward, allowing our relationship to transform into whatever it was destined to be. Before that could happen he deserved to know the whole truth of who I was and how I came to be at West Beverly. He needed all the facts before we took the next step and risked shattering our hearts with white lies and half truths.

Faith—that's what Angela had reiterated every time I'd brought it up, and I had a propensity to bring it up a lot. I had to have faith in him, in his feelings for me, in the strength of our friendship, and in myself. Honestly, I knew in my heart that I could trust him, but that didn't negate the nerves I was feeling at actually broaching the subject with him.

While my body continued on with its mindless movement, I once again found myself rehearsing the words in my head, trying to determine the best way to phrase it. _'I think we should talk,' _sounded too ominous.

Yet, launching into a formal spiel such as, '_Edward, I've decided that I want to be your girlfriend, but first there's something you need to know. It may or may not change the way you feel about me. So please, let me down easy if it does,'_ didn't seem right either.

No, I knew what I wanted—the quiet romantic moment, like so many that had already passed us by. I'd kicked myself every single time that we had found ourselves alone and that startling, ever present energy would crackle between us and I'd simply let the moment pass us by. There were times Edward would gaze in my eyes with so much raw emotion I thought I might drown in it. Even when we were with other people we would gravitate towards each other, closing whatever distance just to feel close and connected. The way he would look at me made feel desirable and made me hope that just maybe he was thinking about kissing me. My heart would scream for him to just do it already and take the decision out of my hands.

Yes, it should be just like that. One of those perfect hushed moments when I could whisper to him that I was ready. The rest would fall into place, the kiss, the impending talk. We would work it out together. I had no real doubts, just nerves—lots and lots of nerves.

The song changed, bringing me back from my thoughts. My dreamy smile faltered as the music transformed from the pounding beats of another dance hit into the familiar strumming of Snow Patrol's "You're All I Have." It wasn't a slow song by any means, but I still unconsciously started making my way to the edge of the makeshift dance floor as everyone around me began to pair off.

I watched with envy as Jasper approached the group of girls I had been dancing with. He pulled Alice close and spun her around to face him. He began to rock their hips together in time with the steady beat of the song, grinning into her neck. She closed her eyes in delight as his lips worked their way up and down the column of her throat. I felt like a voyeur as I watched their intimate display, desiring another's hands and lips on me in such way.

My eyes eagerly searched the crowd for _him_, but there was no sign of his shining green eyes or gorgeous bronze hair. He had been pulled away by a group of guys over an hour ago and hadn't returned since. Word got out after Edward's baseball practice the day before that there was going to be a party at the Cullens' on Saturday. The hordes of people showing up just to drink the booze and trash the house was clearly grating on Edward's nerves early in the evening. After he grunted something about skinning Alice, Emmett and some other guys from the team had dragged him away to cool off and I suspected to help him unwind with a little liquid relaxation.

The combination of missing him and being sandwiched between couples practically fornicating in the Cullens' living room left me feeling very out of place and overcome with the need to escape. I averted my eyes as I weaved my way through the crowd of gleeful couples, some so clearly devoted to each other like Ben and Angela and Alice and Jasper, and others just drunk and looking for nothing more than a good time like Mike and Jessica. As I made my hasty retreat my heart continued to cry out for a certain boy to come find me, hold me close, and dance with me.

As soon as I could make out the arched entry to the kitchen through the writhing bodies, I darted between the last two couples and made a beeline towards my sanctuary from the sudden onslaught of need and want. I quickly rounded the corner and collided right into a strong, warm body—the stunning body of the one person that managed to consume my every thought.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed as he steadied me with a hand on my arm. "Hey there, I was just gonna come find you," he said, grinning like he'd just won the lottery.

My mouth gaped in awe at his declaration and sexy smile before I caught myself and attempted to play it cool. It was as if he could hear my heart calling for him and then suddenly appeared before me, I thought. I was instantly at peace in his presence.

He was holding a red plastic cup in his left hand and reached out with his right to wrap his arm around me and turned me back towards the dance floor that I had just managed to escape. He pulled me along next to him as he picked out a prime spot, his brilliant smile never wavering. His free arm dropped from my shoulders to wind securely around my middle tugging me closer. I went—willingly.

"My, don't you look happy," I teased, trying to calm my flying heart as I stretched my arms up to rest my hands on his shoulders. He began to sway us with practiced skill to the quickened rhythm of the song. I had never danced with a boy before, with the exception of my dad at his cousin's wedding. My body was instantly aflame with just his proximity, his warmth permeating the thin silk of my tank top.

"Oh, I am," he replied with an even bigger grin, taking the opportunity to swig his beer.

"Are you drunk?" I asked, taking in his slightly glossy eyes and stupid happy smiles, something I had witnessed with Jasper on numerous occasions.

"Only on you, _mon petit chou_."

I couldn't contain my laughter at that, burying my face in his soft cotton shirt in an attempt to squelch my giggles. That proved to be a bigger mistake, because I was instantly assaulted by the heavenly scent of his cologne. I wanted to rub up against him like a kitten so that I could smell him on myself all night long.

Instead, I tried to keep things light and pulled back just enough to look him in the eyes and tease him once more, "Jeez, cheesy much?"

"Yup, I guess you just bring it out in me," he replied, tapping me on the tip of my nose. "But, I'm not drunk. I've only had two… honestly," he said, suddenly very sober.

"It's okay if you are. I'm not your mom or your... I know everyone thinks I'm a prude, but..."

"I don't think you're a prude, Bella. I don't think that at all. I think you are a million wonderful things, but not a prude." He paused and looked me directly in eyes, his face taking on an air of determination as he cryptically finished, "I just wanted you to know that I'm thinking very clearly right now."

He reached behind him to set his cup down on a side table, freeing his hands to find purchase on my waist. His fingers softly stroked the silk of my shirt as they worked their way lower until they were resting on my hips. He tugged me even closer, erasing the minute distance that remained between us. Our entire bodies pressed together so tightly that I worried he might feel my heart thundering in my chest.

My arms wound fully around his neck hugging him to me, my fingers playing with the soft hair at the nape of his neck as I rested my cheek against the smooth cotton of his shirt. He began to move us in a small circle as our hips rocked together in time. His hands started a slow massage of my hips and lower back, remaining just north of my ass at all times, as he pressed his lips against my hair.

The rest of the room fell away as his husky voice began to sing lowly in my ear, sending tingles down my spine.

"_You're cinematic, razor sharp  
A welcome arrow through the heart  
Under your skin feels like home  
Electric shocks on aching bones"_

Pressed together like this as we swayed was the closest we had ever been. The moment was intensely sweet and intimate.

"_Give me a chance to hold on  
Give me a chance to hold on  
Give me a chance to hold on  
Just give me something to hold onto"_

I realized that this was my opening, the obvious moment I had been waiting for to spill my heart and tell him I wanted more. He wanted a chance, and I wanted to give it to him.

"_It's so clear now that you are all that I have  
I have no fear now you are all that I have  
It's so clear now that you are all that I have  
I have no fear now you are all that I have"_

I didn't realize how lost I was in my thoughts until he pulled back to glance at my face while continuing to gently sway us to the music.

"What has you so distracted?" he asked, his brow furrowed in concern, probably fearing that I was retreating from him.

I peered up at him through my lashes as I opened my mouth to say the words I had been toying with all night, but nothing would come out. They were stuck in my throat, blocking my airway with sudden panic, threatening to choke me with overwhelming nerves. Edward brought his hand up to softly caress my cheek, so caring and tender. I instantly relaxed into his touch, angling my face into his hand, brushing my lips against his palm.

His eyes flashed from my mouth up to my eyes, locking me in his ardent gaze. His hand on my lower back pulled me infinitely closer, as if that were even possible without melting into each other. His hand slid from my cheek around to the nape of neck. The quick beat of the music was all but forgotten as our bodies stilled. His eyes bounced between mine as he tilted his head—agonizingly slow—until the tip of his nose gently rubbed along the side of my own. His eyes slid closed followed immediately by own. Time stood still as his breath caressed my lips in sweet puffs. I waited in anticipation as we clung to each other exchanging shallow breaths…

A shrill squeal caused us both to jump, the sharp heel of my shoe landing right on Edward's foot as he steadied me. He bit back a curse that threatened to spill from his lips—lips that were almost on mine only milliseconds ago. He shrugged off the pain with a grimace as soon as I began to utter a humiliated apology, my cheeks colored with shame and frustration. We both turned to see what had caused Rose to shriek at such a ridiculous decibel, ruining our first almost kiss.

My plight was momentarily soothed at the sight of Emmett embracing Rose and spinning her around the room, both of their faces alight with joy. He plopped her back down on her feet and proceeded to kiss her like there was no tomorrow. Catcalls and whistles sounded from Emmett's overzealous buddies as his hand slid down and palmed her ass. Rose halfheartedly swatted at his hand with hers but kept right on kissing him with everything she had. They broke apart wearing matching grins and Emmett lowered his forehead to hers and began to whisper softly to her.

I peered up at Edward who was watching their display with a wistful expression. He must have felt my eyes on him because he glanced down at me with a tender smile and pulled me into his side, securing his arms around me. He gazed at me in adoration but there was something else there, a hint of anxiety underlying his soft expression. I slid my arm around his waist in reassurance, not wanting him to worry for a single moment that our almost kiss was in any way undesired.

"I need to borrow her for just a minute, Edward. Then she's all yours. I promise," Rose interrupted as she suddenly appeared before me, tugging on my arm to follow after her. She led me over to Alice and Angela and started in with the ear splitting squealing all over again.

"You're killing me here! What happened?" Alice demanded, bouncing with excitement and anticipation.

"He told me he loves me!" Epic squealing ensued immediately, the likes of which would put junior high girls to shame. Our obnoxious outburst caused a few of the guys who were hounding Emmett for details to groan in annoyance.

"We were dancing, and the moment was just perfect..." Yes, I thought. I was well aware of the perfect moment. I almost had one of my own. "I couldn't stop thinking about how all of you kept telling me to just talk to him and tell him how I feel, so I did. I started rambling about how I fell for him our freshman year, and that I wished I would have handled things differently so I could've had a chance for something real with him. I don't even know what all I said. God, I probably sounded like such an idiot. I just went on and on, and then… he kissed me. It was so gentle and sweet. And then he said it. He looked me square in the eye and said he loved me, that he has always loved me."

A harmonic chorus of 'awws' rang out in celebration, followed closely by a few more squeals and a lot of celebratory hugs.

"Can I have my Rosie back yet?" Emmett asked with a smirk as he wound his arms around her waist from behind. "I want to dance with my girl."

Warm, familiar arms tentatively wrapped around me at the same time. My body leaned back into his on its own accord, and he tightened his embrace in response. Angela's knowing eyes caught mine, and she shot me a proud and approving smile. For a second I debated stealing her away to gush about my almost kiss, but the moment felt oddly private, and I really didn't want to leave my place in Edward's arms.

The group of us followed after Emmett and Rose, reclaiming our place on the dance floor. We danced and twirled to the playful tune of The Plain White Tees "Rhythm of Love." All of us girls were in the middle grinning at each other, while our guys held us from behind. It was the most fun I had in a long time.

As the song ended, I spun around to face Edward, wrapping my arms around his neck once again. I was immediately awarded with his killer smile and took a moment to steel myself. He looked happy—ridiculously happy—and I would be lying if I didn't admit that it felt really good to know that I was at least part of the reason why. My fingers fiddled with his hair as I summoned the courage to spill my heart to him.

"So, I've been thinking…" I started with a sly smile.

"Hmm, that's always dangerous," he teased back playfully, but his eyes were alight with hope.

"Edward, I'm ready—" I didn't get a chance to finish my thought, because Alice all but launched herself between us.

"Come on! We're going to play truth or dare," she exclaimed tugging on both of us.

"Dammit, Alice. We're talking here," Edward complained a little too harshly causing Alice to wince. She looked at me for help, but I was also taken aback by his outburst.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt, but… do you guys want to play?"

"Just give us a minute, please." She nodded and stepped away, still appearing uncertain about Edward's sudden change in mood.

"Sorry about that, what were you saying?" he asked, but the moment had passed.

"It's nothing. We can talk later when there aren't so many people around."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it can wait. Let's just enjoy the party." He looked a little disappointed, but nodded and followed me over to where our friends were gathering to play the absurd party game.

Alice had lowered the volume on the music, and the crowds of people were finally starting to thin out. Only about a dozen of those remaining were actually willing to participate in the game. I hoped the rest would leave out of boredom for Edward and Alice's sake. We convened in a circle in the living room. Edward offered up the only empty chair to me and reclined on the arm next to me.

"Okay, here are the rules," Alice started, "Everyone will get one pass for a dare and one pass for a truth. After you have used your passes, all bets are off. After you are called on for a truth or dare it's your turn. You can't call on the person that just called on you. That's pretty much it. I'll start unless someone else wants to."

When no one spoke up, she began tapping her chin in mock concentration. "Who will be my first victim? Oh, I know! Jasper, truth or dare?"

"Ah, come on... Dare, pretty girl. It's always dare." Her evil grin widened at his cocky reply.

"Okay, I dare you to suck every toe on my right foot for ten seconds each." The horrified look on Jasper's face sent the entire room into a roar of laughter.

"Seriously? But, you've been dancing all night…" he groaned, pleading at her with his baby blues to let him off the hook. When that didn't work, he unleashed the full effect of the Whitlock charm on her in an attempt to distract her.

"You can pass... but it will only get worse," she warned. I was alarmed by this devious side of her and silently prayed that she never called on me.

When it was obvious that Jasper wasn't going to gain any sympathy with her, he slid off of the sofa and kneeled down in front of her. He picked up her foot and removed her violet peep-toe heel, which of course was perfectly matched to her violet backless shirt. His nose wrinkled in jest as placed a chaste kiss on the top of her foot, causing her to giggle.

He started with her little toe, sucking it into his mouth while she counted to ten for him between chuckles. Everyone was hooting and hollering by the time he made it to her big toe. In true Jasper fashion, he decided to make a big show of it, seductively twirling his tongue around her toe before sucking it all the way into his mouth. I shuttered at the sight and turned to hide my face in Edward's side. His body shook with laughter, but he held my head against him until it was over.

When Jasper's time was up he launched himself at Alice and tried to kiss her on the mouth in revenge, causing her to squeal about 'foot germs' and laugh hysterically as she attempted to free herself from his grasp.

"I'm gonna to get you back for that, pretty girl," he taunted as he took a seat next to her.

"Well you can't now because you have to pick someone else," she said matter-of-factly. Jasper took that as a challenge and thought for a long, hard minute before his face lit up with victory.

"Edward, truth or dare?" Edward stiffened next to me, realizing that he was about to fall party to Jasper's plan for retaliation against his twin.

"Dare," he said cautiously.

"Excellent. I dare you to trade shirts with Alice," Jasper declared with triumph.

"Oh come on! That's way worse for me than Alice."

"No it's not, man. I know how much she loves this shirt. I'm sure she would hate to have it stretched out."

"Oh my god! You have to pass, Edward. Please, please, please," Alice began to whine. Edward shook his head and stood up.

"Not gonna happen. Come on, sis, time to trade." I was already chuckling as I tried to picture Edward's muscular body wearing Alice's tiny top. She had on a bright purple backless shirt that was held together by a few strategically placed frilly ribbons. It was possibly the most feminine piece of clothing ever created, and only a girl of Alice's exact body type could pull it off… let alone a guy.

Alice glared at Edward as she stalked off towards the downstairs bathroom. We watched her step inside and slam the door as Edward stood awkwardly outside unsure of what to do. A moment later the door inched open and Alice's bare arm thrust the shirt out at him.

"Strip already, Edward! I'm naked in here," her voice commanded from beyond the door, causing me to slap my hand over my mouth to contain my laughter.

"Ew! You're not wearing a bra?" he asked, mortified.

Edward glanced back at his audience, his ears tinged pink, and then turned his back to us as he whipped his light blue polo shirt up over his head. I had seen Edward shirtless once before, on the fretful day that was forever tainted in my memory by Tanya's appearance. Even with the prior experience, I still let out an involuntary gasp at the sight of his strong back. My eyes locked onto the deep dimples in his lower back, and the way his dark jeans hung just below the waistline of his underwear.

I found myself pondering whether he wore boxer briefs or regular briefs. I could tell it was either one or the other by the small amount that was peeking out at me just above the swell of his perfect ass.

I didn't realize I was still staring until Edward turned around to face us leaving me gazing directly at his… Oh, my. I immediately looked away, hoping and praying that I hadn't been caught ogling.

I only allowed myself to look up again when the bathroom door opened. Alice appeared with Edward's shirt tied in a cute knot at her midsection and the short sleeves hanging down to her elbows. She actually looked quite adorable in her brother's clothes.

Edward was still studying the scrap of material that Alice had tossed at him like it was a long lost treasure map. She snatched it out of his hands and helped him put it on, guiding his muscular arms through the barely there sleeve holes and loosely tying the back together for him. He popped into the bathroom to check himself out in the mirror and immediately began laughing.

He returned to the group, standing before us proudly in what looked like a rectangular piece of fabric stuck to his chest. He put his hands on his hips and did an obnoxious spin, modeling his new attire for us causing the room to once again break into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

"What do you think?" he asked, coming to stand right in front of me, exuding confidence.

"I think purple is your color. You should definitely wear it more often." I teased, trying not to notice the beginnings of his happy trail peeking out at me from between the bottom edge of the too small shirt and the top of his jeans. Edward could even make cross dressing look damn fine.

He plopped back down on the arm of my chair and rubbed his hands together like a villain, excitedly exclaiming, "Now it's my turn."

"Emmett, truth or dare?" It was clear at this point that they guys—and apparently Alice—were out for blood.

"Dare, bitches!"

"I dare you to let Rose wax your leg with duct tape."

"Bring it," Emmett agreed without a second thought. Edward darted out of the room laughing and returned moments later with a roll of plain old household duct tape. I had a bad feeling about this stunt.

Emmett stretched his leg out in front of him, rolling his jeans up so that his tanned lower leg was exposed. Rose tore off a six inch piece of the silver tape that Edward handed to her and eyed Emmett skeptically. He pointed to the front of his shin and smiled, causing her to roll her eyes as she smoothed the tape over his leg hairs.

"Are you ready?" she asked, cringing as she started to tug up a corner to get a strong grip on the tape.

"This is gonna hurt like hell, isn't it?"

"Probably…"

He blew out a long breath and then nodded.

"Okay, I'm going to count to three… One." The room grew silent. "Two." Everyone around me visibly cringed with sympathy. "Three." A horrible ripping sounded flooded my ears making my stomach turn, followed by the most creative string of curses I had ever heard.

"AHH! Goddam fuck nugget stealing assclown skank whore bitch craptastic son of a shit eating bastard! Mother fucker that shit hurt."

I couldn't hear myself think over the roar of laughter that ensued. Emmett had a perfect six inch long rectangle of puffy red skin on the front of his leg. It looked incredibly painful. Apparently duct tape is not a suitable substitute for waxing.

As the game continued Mike ended up with a marker illustration of a giant dick on the side of his face. Ben serenaded Angela with a horrible rendition of a Justin Bieber song, which I recorded to use against him the next time he brought my one experience with a femme kiss. Alice had mooned us all, much to Edward and Jasper's dismay. Tyler had stuck his hand in the toilet for a whopping thirty seconds. Rose had to drink a beer from one of her new Badgley Mischka shoes, which resulted in Emmett owing her a shopping trip for a replacement pair. Jessica gave Mike a very raunchy drunken lap dance that will haunt me forever. Angela made an obscene prank call to a random number. Edward ate paste, which he didn't seem to mind at all. And I was dared to sit on Tyler's lap for two whole rounds since he was the person I knew least in the room. I didn't complain though, because Edward decided that was cause enough for me to do the same with him.

Which was how I ended up right here, perched lightly atop Edward's lap trying to support my own weight, worried that I may cause his legs to go numb. Fortunately, Alice had released the full effect of her feminine wiles on Jasper and convinced him to allow her and Edward to switch their shirts back. I had a feeling sitting on his lap while he wore women's clothing would have an entirely different effect. I much preferred relaxing into the soft cotton and all consuming scent of him.

By this point, the game had shifted from silly dares to a round of more serious and consequential truths. It was Angela's turn, and being by far one of the nicest people in the room, no one looked too apprehensive about being called on next.

"Edward, truth or dare?"

"I'm quite comfortable where I am, so I'm gonna say truth," he said, his chin resting on my shoulder.

"Okay. If you could go back in time to any day of your life, what day would it be and why?" It was a good question, quite insightful, and I was immediately curious to hear his reply.

"Huh. That's a tough one, but I think I would go back to the day we left Minnesota." He paused, and I turned to take in his expression. I had never asked if he regretted that he was forced to move away from his home half way through his high school career. He could hate California for all I knew.

He looked me right in the eye as he continued, "I wish I would have ended things with Tanya before I left, so that I could have had a clean start here and been available to certain opportunities when they presented themselves. That's what I would change."

The room was eerily quiet at his reply. I found myself smiling shyly at him, happy at his sweet answer but saddened that he had any regrets. Part of me had actually admired that he'd tried so hard to make it work with his longtime girlfriend, even if I did think he was entirely too good for her.

"It's your turn," I whispered after a long moment, breaking the silent spell that we had fallen under.

He cleared his throat and turned back to the rest of the group. "Rose, truth or dare?"

"Truth," she answered with a yawn, the effects of the alcohol and dancing becoming apparent in everyone.

"Are you really in love with this big buffoon?" he asked lightheartedly, pointing at Emmett.

She replied with an enthusiastic 'yes' and sealed her answer with a highly indecent kiss on Emmett's mouth. Edward turned his face into the side of my neck as he snickered.

"I'm happy for them," I sighed.

He nodded into my neck and whispered back, "Me too."

He didn't remove himself from my neck as the game continued on around us, and I got lost in the feeling of his soft lips pressing lightly against my skin. He wasn't kissing me outright, just holding me against him in the most delicious way. I could feel ever inhale and exhale of breath, every subtle swallow, and the soft vibrations of his occasional laugh. The sensations he was creating had me floating so high that I jumped with a start when he suddenly poked me in the side to get my attention.

I glanced at him in question, and he nodded in Lauren's direction. Of course she of all people would interrupt my personal heaven.

"Earth to Bella. Truth or dare?" she snarked.

"Truth," I answered, already feeling dread at what she might ask me.

"How many bases have you crossed?" she asked cryptically, with a wicked smirk.

"Bases?"

"Yeah, you know like first base is kissing, second is over the clothes groping, third is under…"

"Or oral sex," Jessica contributed.

"And home is well… a homerun," Lauren finished.

"Okay, I get it…" I clipped. I should have seen it coming, but I had fallen right into her trap. I stiffened in Edward's arms and felt him go rigid behind me in response. It wasn't that I had anything to hide, but this should have been a private conversation between the two of us, not like this.

"Well?"

"First base. I've never been past first base," I answered, my voice shaky and too quiet.

Edward rubbed his hands up and down my arms in an action I was sure was meant to relax me, but my mind was racing wondering what he thought. I had never given him any reason to think that I had any experience. Still, I worried that it might be off putting to him to hear it confirmed out loud, and in front of his guy friends no less.

"Ha! Virgin. I knew it," Lauren sneered. Her attitude infuriated me, and I silently wished that Alice hadn't established the rule that you couldn't call on the person that just called on you. I wanted to find something equally embarrassing to call her out on like what her natural hair color was, or how she showed up after last summer break with obviously fake tits.

I reigned in my anger and directed my attention to finding someone else to call on.

"Jasper?"

"Yes, Bells?" His voice was playful, but his eyes watched me carefully as he reverted back to his protective brother role.

"Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Lame!" Emmett taunted, helping to dissipate some of the previous tension in the room.

"Let's see… Oh, I've got one. If you had to be deaf or blind, which one would you choose?"

"Deaf, because I still wanna be able to see this pretty face. You know what I mean?" he teased, squeezing Alice's smiling cheeks and loudly smacking a kiss on her on the lips. I rolled my eyes at his cheese, and the game continued on.

Once the spotlight was off of me, Edward took the opportunity to ask if I was okay. I told him that I was fine but sat quietly, the easy mood of the night lessened by my tendency to over think everything.

I listened mutely as the questions thrown out became racier and laden with sexual connotations. What is the most taboo thing you have ever done? How often do you masturbate? Have you ever seen a porno? Where is the craziest place you've ever done_ it_?

Rose casually answered the balcony of Emmett's dad's beach house for the last question, and then glanced around trying to decide who she was going to call on.

She smiled brilliantly as her eyes landed on Edward and me, or more specifically the way he was affectionately massaging my neck and shoulders in an effort to help me relax. I should have known nothing good could come of the look in her eye, but nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

"Ah, Edward, truth or dare?" she asked, her voice a little too sweet for my liking.

"Dare," he replied confidently, his fingers tenderly sliding up and down the back of my neck causing my head to roll from side to side with each movement.

"Great! I dare you to kiss Bella," she replied with a victorious grin, winking at me like she had just done me a huge favor. I supposed she had, but I wasn't exactly thrilled with the thought of our first kiss being shared with a bunch of other people let alone as the result of a dare. I wanted to go back in time and revisit our moment on the dance floor. Still, I would be kissing Edward and I realized it was likely going to happen sooner or later regardless, hopefully tonight considering the way the evening had gone. I smiled at the thought. Edward's response however threw my world off kilter.

"I'm uh… I think… I'm just gonna pass," he said nervously, his hands stilling on me but not pulling away. I tried not to feel rejected by the words, hoping that he was just trying to protect me from moving too fast, especially now that he had confirmation that I had zilch experience. He was considerate like that, and I knew he wouldn't want an asinine game to put any pressure on me to do something that I might not be ready for. Little did he know that I was more than ready.

"Oh, come on. It's just a dare," she encouraged.

I turned in his lap to face him and attempt to reassure him. It was just a kiss, and a silly dare to waste a pass on considering the caliber of disgusting things that these people were able to come up with tonight. He nervously ran his hands through his hair as his concerned stare penetrated me. I placed a hand on his on the side of his face in a move that I hoped would comfort him.

"Hey, it's okay. It's just a dare. I don't mind… really," I murmured quietly so that only he could hear me. His eyes remained steady on mine as he warred with something internally. He finally sighed and dropped his head back onto the chair and stared up at the ceiling.

"Okay," he agreed, but when he turned to me the expression on his face was distant, any trace of the desire I had seen reflected back at me earlier completely erased.

I began to question myself. Had I read the signs wrong? Maybe he wasn't going to kiss me earlier. Maybe he didn't want to kiss me at all. Panic set in, hard and fast.

His eyes diligently avoided mine as Rose asked us to stand up so that everyone could see. I began debating if this was the right thing to do, unsure if I should just back out and give him an easy escape. Before I could make a decision and bow out gracefully, he finally looked down at me. His eyes looked pained and so very sad, as if just the idea of kissing me was pure torture to him.

He leaned down to me and gently cupped my face in his palm, whispering against my lips that he was sorry a split second before he pressed forward and kissed me. I blinked back tears at his words, unsure of how to take them. He placed three slow kisses on my lips before he pulled my bottom lip between his.

I didn't know how to react. Should I kiss him back when he was so clearly tormented by being dared to kiss me? Would it make it worse for him if I did? Did I care?

Then it suddenly hit me like a bolt of lightning that Edward Cullen was kissing me right now, and I was just standing there like a fool wasting what was possibly my only opportunity to experience this with him.

Wayward tears leaked from the corner of my eyes as I squeezed them shut and pressed forward, moving my mouth in sync with his. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and clung to him in a pathetic attempt to regain some of the intimacy that I had experienced with him earlier in the evening. Finally, his arms wound around my middle and pulled me closer. Then I was home.

Kissing Edward was as easy as breathing. Our lips danced and tongues twirled in perfect harmony as our kiss quickly became more heated. I gave him everything I had, pouring my heart out to him in that kiss. With my eyes closed, basking in the sensation of being with him like this, it was easy to pretend that he was enjoying it as much as me.

In the far recesses of my mind, I heard Rose call time and knew that the magical moment would have to come to an end. Too soon for my liking the catcalls and whistles began, but I refused to stop first. Edward began to pull away from me, and the momentary bliss I felt was instantly replaced with utter humiliation.

I looked square at his chest as he released me, unable to meet his eyes and see even a hint of regret in them. I was aware that my hands were shaking where they remained on his shoulders. My breath was coming out in shallow pants, and I felt a wave of nausea roll through me as all the possible ramifications for my actions assaulted me at once. Did I just blow my opportunity to be with him? Would I lose him as friend? I wasn't sure how I could go on without his presence in my life now.

And the hardest question to acknowledge… why didn't he want me? He had told me he wanted me.

Angry tears pricked at my eyes, but I refused to let them fall in front of anyone. I heard Edward whisper my name, but I refused to look at him, mumbling that it was his turn to call on someone in the game. I perched tentatively on the edge of the chair while he remained standing stoic next to me. I waited for the game to resume around me before I stood as quietly as possible and walked away in search of solitude. I didn't look at anyone as I fled the room. At first I headed toward the downstairs bathroom, but thought better of it and turned to head upstairs to the privacy of Alice's personal bathroom instead. I needed the seclusion and figured I could grab my overnight bag and make a clean get away after I had a moment to myself.

By some means of grace, I managed to keep my composure the entire trek from the living room to my destination, but the moment the bathroom door clicked shut behind me I fell apart. My back slid down the door as my knees collapsed beneath me in despair. The tears I was holding back cascaded down my cheeks as a strangled sob viciously ripped itself from my throat. It was all too much. I hadn't even had a chance to tell him how I felt and my heart was already shattering into a million little pieces.

My mind raced with possible causes to his sudden shift in his attitude, a million scenarios flitting through my brain faster than I could process them. Maybe I did or said something wrong. Maybe I just had bad breath. Maybe he didn't realize I was so inexperienced. Maybe the thought of being with a virgin bothered him. Maybe Lauren made up a new rumor about me. Maybe he got tired of waiting for me. Maybe there was someone else that caught his attention. Maybe he figured out that I'm not good enough for him. Maybe someone clued him in that I was just a poor girl from the wrong part of town.

I sobbed to the point of hysterics until I was too exhausted to continue on. I hugged my bare knees to my chest and let my tears flow freely until there were none left to cry.

My pocket buzzed, reminding me of the party downstairs and spurring me into action. I pulled out my cell phone and flipped it open to find three missed text messages.

**Are you okay? –Ang**

**What just happened? Edward looks freaked out. –Rose**

**What's going on with you and my brother? Did I miss something? –Alice **

I forced myself to get up off of the cold tile floor and wash my face. The harsh black mascara tracks on my cheeks marring my reflection further exacerbated the hopeless feeling welling inside of me.

I allowed the cool water and tingling sensation of Alice's face wash to clear my thoughts. I patted my face dry with a fresh towel; every trace of the impeccable make up that she had slaved over washed away. I looked plain. I looked like me again.

I schooled my features into a mask of calm, intent on holding it together long enough to make my escape. I hated up and leaving so suddenly when Alice had been so excited about having me spend the night, but I couldn't imagine staying under the same roof as Edward tonight.

I also knew that I would need to talk to him eventually and find out what had changed, but I wasn't ready yet. It was all too much. One moment I thought this may be the night we became an official couple and the next he looked like he was being physically tortured over a kiss. I didn't know what to think, but I knew if I dwelled on it any longer I would crumple into a weeping mess all over again.

I opened the door to go collect my things in Alice's bedroom, but startled when I noticed a figure sitting on the edge of her bed. Waiting in silence for me—looking so sad, vulnerable, and just defeated with his head hanging helplessly in his hands—was Edward.

xxx

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**A/N: **Oh, teenage drama... Experiences like this do not make me miss high school at all. I hated that feeling of vulnerability and insecurity that we all go through as we find our way in the world.

Sorry to leave you hanging on a bit of a cliffy there. I had a lot more planned for this chapter, but it was getting too long. This felt like a natural turning to point to switch back to EPOV. Feel free to flay me for leaving you hanging without much resolution. There is hope though, right? I mean, he went after her and waited for her. And there was all that sweet flirting and dancing in the beginning.

Funny story… In my first draft of this chapter I forgot to have Alice and Edward switch their shirts back. The lovely Hibbleton78 noted my oversight when she sent the doc back to me. Her suggestion… add more drama. This was her contribution: "I thought I knew you but you're repulsed by the idea of kissing me and you enjoy wearing women's clothing so much that you're still wearing your sister's shirt without giving it a second thought... I'm really NOT your type, am I?" Yeah, I almost peed my pants. Definitely would have given the ending a different vibe. Good catch bb!

Thank you to usual suspects! Hibbleton78 for fixing my mistakes and making me laugh and Hollister1980 for prereading.

**Reviews get teased!**


	11. Take Back The Night

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its beautiful characters. This story is loosely based off of plot lines from the original Beverly Hills, 90210 TV series. I have taken many liberties with them. No infringement is intended to any media franchise. The remainder is my original work

**A/N:** I know you've been patiently chomping at the bit for an update. This is the first time that I haven't managed to get you two updates in a month. I blame it on the worse flu ever and the fact that February only has 28 days (just missed the cut off). Shucks!

Today is my lovely beta's birthday! Please take a moment to wish Hibbleton78 a very happy birthday. This story would not have happened without her. She's talented, generous, selfless, and simply amazing. **Hibbleton78 - Love you, bb! Happy birthday! This chapter is dedicated to you.**

Finally, thank you so very much for your heartfelt responses to chapter 10. Your reviews really blew me away. I know it got a little heart-clenchy at the end. I apologize to those of you that would have appreciated a tissue warning in advance. Note taken, I promise. I am happy to report that you will NOT need a tissue to get through this chapter. Sit back and enjoy! 3

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**Chapter 11  
****"Take Back the Night" **

I watched, stunned and helpless, as Bella stood and walked away from me without a word. The despair settling over me was in complete opposition to the all consuming elation I'd felt mere seconds before as our lips and tongues mingled together for the very first time.

I heard myself ask Ben a half thought out question as the cursed game of Truth or Dare continued on around me, my friends seemingly oblivious to my distress. The dull droning of Ben's voice filling the room was the only indication that what I had asked even made any sense. I paid no mind to his reply.

My thoughts and heart were consumed by the brunette beauty making her escape. My eyes tracked her every move as she wandered towards the bathroom and then made a last minute detour to the stairs. Her movements worry hurried and frantic, as if she couldn't get away quick enough.

I didn't know if I should chase after her or stay put. Did she need comfort or space? I wanted to go to her for my own peace of mind. I wanted to tell her that kissing her was perfection—that _she_ was perfection. But it appeared that my feelings on what had transpired may not be reciprocated. Whether she fled out of fear or anger, I wasn't certain. The one thing was sure of, my heart was breaking—for me, for her, for the possibility of us.

Up until a few minutes ago this had been the most perfect evening of my life. Bella had let me hold her, touch her, dance with her, and then without warning everything had spun completely out of control. I was stuck between a rock and hard place the moment Rose dared me to kiss Bella. I couldn't pass on the dare without it appearing like I was rejecting Bella which couldn't have been further from the truth. And yet, I really didn't want to accept knowing that this monumental step in our relationship was going to be shared with a bunch of drunks as the result of a juvenile game. I wanted our first kiss to be about the two of us caught up in the perfect moment. I wanted it to be about us coming together, finally.

I warred with myself about the dare up until the moment that my lips met Bella's. As soon as she began to respond all of my worries disintegrated. Kissing her was sheer bliss. I didn't want it to end. Ever.

When Rose called time I pulled back just enough to peer down at Bella, reluctant to let her go. For just a split second I thought I saw a hint of a peaceful smile on her face, but I must have imagined it because quicker than I could blink it was gone. Panic welled in me as she began to retreat from me, refusing to meet my eyes. She shrugged out of my arms and put as much physical distance as she could between us.

A gentle tap on my shoulder jerked me from my thoughts. Angela appeared in my line of sight, physically placing herself between me and the staircase where Bella had disappeared. She looked at me with concern and asked if everything was okay to which I could only shake my head and shrug like the confused fool that I was.

"I'll go check on her," she offered, trying to ease my worry.

"No, I should go. I need…" I trailed off as my feet began to retrace Bella's path of their own accord.

My eyes followed the soft glow of light in the darkened upstairs hallway to Alice's bedroom. I knocked lightly on the door as I peeked through the cracked opening. When I didn't hear an immediate reply I slowly pushed it open, revealing my sister's empty bedroom.

I began to back away to go in search of Bella when I heard a soft whimper from deep within the room. My heart leapt into my throat as I followed the sound to the door of Alice's bathroom. Heart wrenching sobs poured from the other side of the door. Panic began to well in me as realized just how worked up she was. This was bad, really bad.

I dropped my forehead to rest on the back of the door as I listened to her cries of sorrow. My own eyes became glassy with unshed tears as I willed her to feel my comfort through the door, imagining my arms wrapped securely around her. I wanted to absorb her pain and make it my own, my personal heartache taking a back seat for the moment.

After a few long minutes Bella's crying ceased and I heard her get up and turn on the water. I quietly backed away from the door and sat on the edge of Alice's bed waiting for her to emerge from the bathroom.

I barely heard the click of the bathroom door opening over the thundering of my own heartbeat in my ears. I swallowed past the lump in my throat as I braced myself to look up, my stomach twisting with dread. Her face was red and splotchy from crying, but there was no evidence of the tears she had shed. She wore a careful mask of calm. We were locked in a tense stare for a long moment before I realized that I would have to man up and be the one to speak up first.

I cleared my throat and began to explain my presence. "I came to check on you. And then I… I heard you crying. I just wanted to make sure you were okay after…" _After you gave me the most amazing kiss of my life and then turned and walked away without so much as a word._

"I'm fine," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. Her bottom lip began to tremble with emotion, spurring me into action. I stood immediately and began to approach her.

"Shit. Bella, I'm so sorry," I apologized ruefully. "I should have just passed. It was stupid."

"No." Her harsh reply stopped me dead in my tracks. "I mean… it's fine. I'm fine, really. It was _just_ a dare."

Her words were a stake through my heart, deeply wounding and making me feel sick to my stomach. I tried to conceal my hurt from her, focusing my eyes on a spot on the wall above her head as I attempted to reign in my emotions. I blew out a long, cleansing breath and pinched my eyes shut as I repeated her words back to myself, "Just a dare…"

I couldn't look at her, embarrassed that she may see the heartbreak in my eyes. This night felt like a bust, but I would continue waiting for her, fighting for her, until she told me for certain that she didn't want me. 'Just friends' wasn't even an option for me anymore. I'd passed up being only a friend to her long ago. We were both quiet for a lengthy moment before Bella finally broke the silence with her own apology.

"Look, I'm sorry that you had to… you know. If I would have known that you… that you didn't _want_ to, I wouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry," she sobbed. I blinked at her in confusion, my mind taking a minute to comprehend what she was saying.

"You thought I didn't want to kiss you?" I was dumbfounded.

"I know that you didn't. I just…" She didn't have to say any more. The expression on her face spoke volumes. She was sad because she thought I didn't want her. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I was eager to set her straight.

"Are you kidding? Of course I wanted to. I've been dying to kiss you since the first moment I saw you. Sometimes I feel like you're _all_ I can think about." My voice cracked with desperation as I put myself out there once more.

I began to approach her slowly with my hands raised in surrender as I corrected this blasphemy of a misunderstanding. "Bella, I've fantasized about kissing you for so long that it borders on ridiculous. But I always thought our first kiss would be… I don't know... _special,_ I guess." I came to a stop right in front of her. "It should have been private"—I carefully tucked an wayward strand of hair behind her ear allowing my fingertips to brush against her cheek—"romantic"—I reached down to take her small hands in mine—"slow"—I leaned down to look her in the eye—"sensual"—I brought her hands up around my neck—"and… not the result of a stupid dare."

Bella shocked me when she cut me off by pressing her lips firmly against mine in a chaste but passionate kiss. An unrestrained grin split my face as relief coursed through me, and I found myself smiling against her mouth. She pulled back and smiled tentatively back at me, still looking a bit unsure.

"You still want me?" she asked in a hushed whisper.

"God, yes!"

"I want you too. Edward, I'm ready… I want to be your girlfriend. That's what I was going to tell you earlier."

In a split second she was in my arms, her feet leaving the ground as I scooped her up and spun her around in sheer joy. Laughter rang out from both of us as I carefully lowered her back to her own feet. Our eyes locked in a heated gaze as we clung to each other in elation, neither of us able to take a single step apart now that we had finally arrived at this overdue moment of perfection.

Bella's hands were trapped between us against my chest, fisted tightly in my shirt. I moved my hands to cover hers as I whispered, "My girlfriend," with all the adoration in my heart. Her hands flattened against me as I ran mine up the length of her bare arms over her shoulders tracing the straps of her tank top.

With my left hand I found the small of her back and tugged her closer to me—always closer—while my right threaded into her hair and angled her face up to mine. It was almost the exact embrace we had shared earlier while dancing, and I found myself unconsciously smiling at the memory.

I dropped my forehead down to hers and took a moment to just breathe her, committing every little detail to memory: the scent of her shampoo, the silken texture of her long hair under my fingers, the warmth of her breath on my face, the golden flecks in her big doe eyes staring back at me, her pink lips calling out for my affection, and the pounding of our hearts thundering together in exultation.

My eyes closed involuntarily as I lowered my lips to hers in a soft kiss. "My _belle_ Bella… so beautiful," I murmured against her lips, my voice sounding low and husky to my own ears. "_Mon petit chou_." When she whimpered my name in reply, it was nearly my undoing.

In the blink of an eye, I had her pinned against the wall behind us. My entire body pressed tightly up against hers, my hands cradling her face, as my mouth finally descended upon hers in a searing kiss. I pulled her plump bottom lip between my eager lips before switching to the top and then back again. I angled my head and gently lifted her chin as my tongue begged for entrance into her mouth. She granted my desire and my tongue immediately sought out hers.

Tasting her, exploring her in this intimate manner, was better than anything I could have ever dreamed up in any fantasy. She was white hot heat, branding me with her unbridled passion. We kissed, sucked, licked, and nipped our way into frenzy, gasping into each other's mouths as our lips continued to move together, both of us refusing to break apart.

As our kiss began to slow, becoming much more languorous and cherishing, I lowered my hands from her face, ghosting them down her arms until I reached the dip of her slender waist. Bella freed her hands from chest and wrapped her arms around my neck, plunging her fingers into my hair. The action caused her silk tank top to ride up under my hands exposing a sliver of skin between the bottom hem of her shirt and the top edge of her tiny skirt. I groaned at the feel of her soft skin under my fingertips, causing Bella to moan in reply.

Encouraged by the way she pushed her small body further into mine, I cautiously slipped my hands just under the hem of her shirt. I began to sensually caress her lower back, not daring to move any farther up, but enjoying the feel of her bare skin nonetheless.

Bella dropped her hands down to my arms and slid her fingers up under my sleeves, massaging my biceps and tugging me closer still. My hands stroked up and down her back just below her bra strap, over her hips and ghosted over her ass. We continued to allow our hands to wander in exploration of each other's bodies, thrilling in this new found level of intimacy.

The last bit of my control snapped the moment my fingertips grazed the supple flesh of her sexy thighs peeking out from under her short skirt. I felt my body respond immediately, my hardness straining almost painfully against the fly of my pants. I regretfully pulled back, ending the most amazing kiss of my young life, but not wanting to push her too far too soon.

"Wow," I whispered against her lips.

"Wow," she echoed with her sweet, shy smile that never failed to tug at my heart.

"Can I ask you something?" I questioned cautiously, still cradling her to me.

"Anything."

"Why on earth did you think I didn't want to kiss you?"

"I don't know how to explain it exactly. Earlier when we were dancing I thought maybe you were going to, but then we were interrupted. But when Rose dared you…" She turned her head away lost in the scene replaying behind her eyes. "You got this look on your face like you were _disgusted_." She spat the last word as if it tasted bitter in her mouth.

"I'm so sorry. I was frustrated with the situation, but I never meant to make you doubt my feelings for you. You mean so much to me," I pled, as I hugged her to me placing a soft kiss on the side of her neck. Bella responded by turning her head to capture my lips in yet another earth shattering kiss.

"We should probably head back downstairs before we get caught making out in my sister's room."

"Too late!" Alice's high pitched voice rang out victoriously from the doorway. She wore a mischievous smirk on her face as she sauntered into the room. "I came to check on Bella, to see if she needed any help kicking your ass, but it looks a lot less like ass kicking and whole lot more like spit swapping. Care to explain?" she teased.

Bella's cheeks flushed a beautiful shade of pink at Alice's crass words. I chose to ignore her, slinging my arm over Bella's shoulders and directing her towards the hallway.

"Wait! Aren't you going to tell me what's going on? I mean, are you two like _official_ now?" she hedged cautiously, well aware of Bella's previous hang ups in classifying our relationship as anything more than friends.

I glanced down at Bella, noting the pleased if not slightly embarrassed smile playing on her lips, and decided to put my sister out of her misery. "Alice, I would like to officially introduce you to my beautiful girlfriend, Bella," I said formally with and exaggerated gesture of my hand, earning a giggle from each of the girls.

Alice clapped and squealed in her signature overstated manner, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I was happy, Bella was happy, and we were finally together. Everything was exactly right in my world.

Or so I thought.

As Alice led us back downstairs to rejoin our friends, Bella nervously chewed her bottom lip, lost in deep thought. I stopped her with a gentle tug on her elbow, quietly allowing Alice to continue on without us. As soon as she was out of ear shot I turned back to Bella who was looking at me with wide, anxious eyes.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, hoping and praying that we were over all of the obstacles standing in our way.

"I think so. I mean, I hope so. I don't know," she started to ramble. "There's still something I need to tell you, something about me that you need to know. It's kind of important, and I think you should know before we tell anyone else that we're together. You know, in case you change your mind or…"

"Change my mind?" That didn't seem likely.

"Maybe. I hope not, but…"

"I don't think there's anything you could say that would change my mind about you. I mean, you're not like a criminal or anything, right?" I teased in an attempt to get her to relax.

"No, of course not. Well, I don't think so anyway." I chuckled at the concerned look on her face.

"Bella, whatever it is… you can tell me. We'll get past it or work through it together. I promise." I cupped her pretty face in my hand and pled with my eyes for her to just open up to me.

"I can't talk about it here," she said, shifting her eyes over to where Lauren was sitting a few feet away. "Too many ears. Will you come with me to my house tomorrow? I think it will be easier to just show you."

"Your house? Sure." Her request caught me off guard, but I agreed with an easy smile, immediately excited by the prospect. "I'd love to, _mon petit chou_," I said, placing a chaste kiss upon her swollen lips.

"Are you ever going to tell me what that means?" she asked, her forehead wrinkled in thought.

"What? _Mon petit chou_?"

"Yeah."

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it already," I teased.

"I tried," she admitted sheepishly, "but I think I must have spelled it wrong, because it didn't make any sense." That made me chuckle, because I was willing to bet that she had it correct and didn't even realize it. "Oh that's funny to you?" she challenged.

"Yes, but not for the reasons you think. _Mon petit chou_ is a term of endearment. It's what my grandpa used to call my grandma. It doesn't translate very well, but it's essentially the same as calling you my sweetheart," I revealed feeling irrationally shy about admitting this to her.

"Sweetheart?"

"_My_ sweetheart."

"You've called me that for a long time."

"I have."

"Wow," she breathed, wrapping her arms around me. "You are just… the sweetest boy ever."

"Mmm, and you are the sweetest girl."

"So, what does it translate to?"

"Huh?" I questioned, distracted by the way she was now running her lips up and down my neck.

"_Mon petit chou_? You said it doesn't translate well, but I know _mon petit _means my little one. What does _chou_ mean?"

Clever girl just couldn't let it go.

"Umm… The literal translation is mylittlecabbage." I rushed out in a single breath as I launched a strategic assault on her neck in a deliberate attempt to divert her attention. My lips found the soft indent below her ear, earning the sexiest throaty groan from my girl.

"Hmm?" she attempted to question as I continued to kiss her, allowing my breath to wash over her ear and drown out her own thoughts. "I didn't understand what you said," she persisted.

"My little cabbage," I said with a resigned sigh. "It means my little cabbage." All kissing ceased immediately.

"Cabbage?" Her eyes were wide as saucers.

"Cabbage."

"Are you kidding me with this?"

"Nope."

"Cabbage? Really?"

"Yep."

"Do I stink?"

"What? No, of course not. Wait. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Cabbage stinks when it's cooked."

"Oh."

"I can't believe you've been calling me cabbage. Cabbage!"

"Sweetheart. I've been calling you my sweetheart."

"You expect me to believe that you weren't using it just because you thought it was funny that you were getting away with calling me a little cabbage? Honestly?"

"Well, I'll admit that I always thought it was pretty funny growing up, but that's not why I use it for you. Look, I know it's not a traditional term of endearment like baby or honey, but it's special to me. My grandparents had the most amazing relationship. I don't know what will happen to us long term, but Bella, I've never felt this way before. That has to mean something."

"Aww... Fine, dammit. You can call me a cabbage," she relented in a teasing tone, hugging me tightly while mumbling something about a stupid sweet boy with stupid sweet French grandparents. My body shook with laughter at her grumbling. She shoved my shoulder in response, and then quickly pulled me back down for another kiss. I decided that I liked playful Bella—a lot.

After that we rejoined our friends in the living room. The girls questioned Bella, making sure she was truly okay after her sudden disappearing act earlier. Rose was especially apologetic, worried that her dare had somehow come between us. Bella assured her that everything was just fine, leaving out the part where she had kissed me senseless and told me that she wanted to be my girlfriend. I was ready to shout it from the roof top, but I was okay with waiting if that was what Bella wanted and needed.

Fortunately the dreadful game of Truth or Dare had died out in favor of everyone lounging around while Jasper plucked out random songs on his guitar. I bit back the tinge of jealousy that reared its head as the girls, namely my sister and new girlfriend, gushed about his raspy voice and obvious talents. I didn't fully understand the hold he seemed to have on the female population. Most guys had certain types of girls that they attracted, but Jasper seemed to effortlessly draw them all in. Bella affectionately called it the Whitlock charm, whatever that meant. Regardless of the cause, I was more than a little uncomfortable with the sultry looks my twin sister was sending his direction. I vowed to keep a close eye on her as the night wore on.

Bella and I had resumed our earlier position in the same chair with her sitting comfortably in my lap. She was reclined against my chest and I had my arms wrapped around her with my chin perched on her shoulder. I took every available opportunity to sneak in a quick kiss when no one was looking. Of course, we weren't nearly as stealthy as we pretended to be. It became obvious that they were on to us by the quirked eyebrows and suggestive looks I started receiving from our friends. The blatant thumbs up that Emmett shot me did not go unnoticed by Bella.

She quietly excused herself to go use the restroom and I assumed to put some safe distance between us for the sake of prying eyes. I took advantage of the free moment to run into the kitchen to grab some bottled waters for Bella and me. Emmett followed after me, obviously fishing for the scoop.

"So… You and Bella were looking mighty cozy in there?" he hedged.

"Yeah?"

"Dude, are you two, like, together now?"

"Uh…" I scratched the back neck nervously as I gave him a guilty look trying to confirm his suspicions without actually saying the words and betraying Bella's request to keep our relationship between us until we had a chance to talk tomorrow.

"Oh my god. You totally are! I saw you sneaking in kisses and feelin' her up on the sly, you dirty dog."

"I was not feeling her up."

"Yeah, yeah. Looks like we'll both be sleeping comfortably tonight, if you know what I mean," he hinted, wagging his eyebrows.

"Sorry to disappoint you, man, but I think the girls are all planning on crashing together in Alice's room."

"Yeah right. Can you not feel the sex vibes flowing between Jazz and Alice? There's no way he's letting her out of his sight now that he has a chance to—" He stopped himself short as he caught on to the deadly glare I was sending his direction. "Shit, man. I'm sorry. But seriously, if they want to do it, they're gonna do it."

"Not while I'm around," I ground out between my clenched teeth. Emmett raised his hands in a sign of surrender and turned to leave the kitchen mumbling 'Jasper's fucked.'

I went to the fridge and grabbed two water bottles, standing in front of the open door a moment longer than required. I let the cool air of the refrigerator calm my thoughts while I regained my composure before I turned to head back to the living room. Standing in the entry way blocking my path was none other than Lauren.

She eyed me for a moment like a jungle cat stalking her prey before she sauntered towards me, running her fingertips along the granite countertop. She jutted her chest out as she came to a stop right in front of me, the sickly sweet smell of her perfume gagging me.

"Hey, Eddie," she purred. I cringed at the nickname. It reminded me of Tanya.

"Hi. Did you need something?" I asked, gesturing to the fridge and taking a conscious step away from her.

"Yeah… You. I've been waiting to get you alone all night." I felt my eyebrows furrow at her statement. "I see you were finally able to break free from Bella Swan."

"She just went to the restroom. She'll be right back," I corrected, uninterested in playing her games.

"You know, Edward, I get the whole rebound thing, but that doesn't mean that you have to slum it. You have options. Very. Viable. Options." She reached out and traced a single perfectly manicured nail down my chest. "I can do things for you, things she won't. I can make you feel things you've never felt before."

I scoffed at her, shoving her hand away a little more forcefully than was absolutely necessary. I turned and stalked out of the kitchen, not even dignifying her lewd offer with a verbal response.

I walked back into the living room to find Bella curled up like a kitten in our chair. I made my way to her and bent over to wrap my arms around her from behind.

"Come upstairs with me," I breathed into her hair. She looked at me skeptically as I continued whispering to her. "I just want a little more time alone with you before Alice takes you away for the night." Her cheeks pinked, but she nodded her head and stood, grabbing my offered hand.

"Damn! Sneaking off together already," Emmett crowed.

"Shut it, asshole," I retorted.

"I'm just playin'. Dude, can I use your bathroom? Rosie's gonna help me shave my legs," he said, pointing out the huge rectangle strip of hair missing from his right leg.

"Yeah, sure." Quicker than I had the words out of my mouth, he pulled Rose up from the floor and ran ahead of us, quickly hauling her up the staircase. "No fucking in my bed!" I yelled after him. He shot me the finger over his head and disappeared around the corner with Rose. Bella shook with laughter next to me, her face a shade of red that I had not yet seen on her.

"Oh you think that's funny? You won't when you have to help me burn my sheets tomorrow." Her nose wrinkled in disgust as she continued to snicker. "Come on, I want to show you something," I said, pulling her up the stairs and through the double doors of the study.

"The library?" she questioned, the awe in her voice bringing a smile to my lips.

"Uh, yeah. Have you been in here before?"

"No, not really. Alice showed it to me once, but we didn't go in."

"Well, this is my favorite room in the house," I explained as I ushered her in, making sure to close the doors securely behind us.

She looked around in wonder at the vast shelves of books, her fingers ghosting over the worn spines. I led her over to my baby grand piano in the corner of the room and took a seat on the bench, tugging on her hand for her to join me.

"You play?" she asked as she sat down next to me.

"I do. You?"

"Definitely not."

Without any preamble I ran my hands over the ivory keys and began playing for her. I ran through a few scales before I launched into the Peanuts theme song, "Linus and Lucy."

"Charlie Brown?" she giggled.

I winked at her and continued on playing. Her smile was the only encouragement I needed to show off a bit. I slowed the music and started in on Debussy's "Clair de lune," a long time favorite that exuded romance. I felt Bella's eyes on me as my body began to gently rock with the highs and lows of the melody. I poured myself into the song, willing her to feel the depths of my feelings for her in each note. I turned and looked her in the eye as I played the closing chords.

Bella's mouth hung open in a stunned, silent stare. I smiled at her, suddenly feeling shy and in need of her validation. I knew the piano wasn't necessarily considered the coolest instrument to play in high school. Tanya had certainly always acted bored whenever I'd tried to play for her, but I held out hope that Bella would appreciate my effort.

"So, what did you think?" I asked quietly, well aware that I was pathetically fishing for a compliment.

"Edward, that was… Wow. Is there anything you can't do?" I chuckled, relieved that she seemed to enjoy it.

"Not that I'm aware of," I teased, earning a playful shoulder bump from Bella. I nudged her back and then wrapped my arm around her shoulder and placed a sweet kiss on the top of her head.

"Do you know how to play 'Chopsticks'?" She shook her head no, and I launched into teaching her the basics of the classic childhood song. We laughed, bantered, and played for a long while.

A while later, after Bella had relocated herself to the small leather couch in an attempt to escape my persistent tickling and teasing, I began playing a song that I had known for years but had only recently become important to me. I played through the chorus once before I began softly singing.

"And I'd give up forever to touch you  
Cause I know that you feel me somehow  
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be  
And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment  
And all I can breathe is your life  
Cause sooner or later it's over  
I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me  
Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
When everything's made to be broken  
I just want you to know who I am"

I was so lost in the music, in the passion of the moment, that I didn't notice Bella approach me until I felt her hands on my shoulders and her lips in my hair as I closed out the song that my heart sang for only her.

"Oh Bella, I just want you to know I am  
I just want you to know who I am"

"Edward," my sweet girl whimpered behind me. My fingers stilled on the keys as I turned to look up at her. She regarded me with so much intense emotion swimming in her eyes. Locking me in her gaze, she sat down next to me with her back to the piano and leaned over me bringing us face to face.

"Kiss me," she whispered quietly. I leaned into her and covered her lips with mine. She opened up to me immediately and we were quickly left gasping into each other's mouths. As we broke apart, I kissed her once, twice, three more times before placing a final peck on the tip of her nose.

"That was really beautiful." I wasn't sure if she was speaking of the song, the kiss, or perhaps both, but I decided that it didn't matter.

"Thank you."

"Why such a sad song?"

I shrugged, not sure how to vocalize everything I was feeling in the moment or had been feeling for so long now. I'd spent weeks worried that I had missed my chance with her, and then after the dare tonight I feared that the door had been closed on the possibility of us for good. Our relationship seemed to teeter on some invisible high wire. I was still worried, perhaps irrationally, that she would allow whatever it was that she needed to tell me tomorrow to come between us. I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. And I would quite literally give up anything just to hold her forever in this moment.

But Bella knew what I was thinking, as if she could read my thoughts spelled out across my face. She took my face between her hands and stared intently in my eyes.

"I'm so sorry that I made you wait." It was such a simple apology, but it was exactly what I needed to hear. My forehead fell softly against hers in relief.

"Don't be. It was worth it… _You_ are worth it." I kissed her soundly once again just to prove my point.

She tried to hide her yawn from me as I pulled back, but I caught it. A quick glance at the clock alerted me to the late hour. We'd been hidden away together for over two hours, and while I'd happily keep her to myself all night, I knew that she had other people that wanted her attention.

"It's getting late. I should let you get some sleep. Alice is going to kill me for stealing you away all night." I took a tiny bit of pleasure in the disappointed look on her face, knowing that I wasn't the only one that didn't want this night to end.

"Yeah, I guess I should go find Alice. I'll see you in the morning?"

"See you in the morning. Night, Bella."

"Good night."

I sat alone in the quiet for a moment with a stupid, happy grin on face as I reminisced about the enormity of everything that had happened today. I didn't want to forget a thing—good or bad. I stood with a content sigh and closed up the room as I turned to head down to my bedroom, praying that I wouldn't find a naked Emmett inside.

I was surprised instead to find a very nervous Bella standing alone outside of Alice's bedroom. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she spotted me. She quickly rushed towards me, stopping me in my tracks.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, wondering what she was doing just standing out in the hall.

"Um… yes? I mean, fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine, but it sounds like Alice is a little _busy_. Is there somewhere else I can sleep?"

"Busy? Doing what?" I started towards Alice's room, but Bella threw herself in my path.

"Nothing! I mean, I don't know for sure, but her door is locked so…" Just then a light bulb clicked in my head at the same time that an unmistakable moan erupted from my sister's room. Bella looked at me with wide frantic eyes as my mouth dropped open. She quickly grabbed onto my arm as I made a dash for Alice's door. "Trust me. You do _not_ want to go down there."

"Is she in there with Jasper?" I asked stupidly, already knowing the answer. Bella gave me a sympathetic shrug and started pulling down the hall and away from the source of my distress.

Just then Angela appeared at the top of the staircase. She looked cautiously between Bella and me, obviously sensing the tension.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yep. Just fine," Bella replied with forced cheeriness while I swallowed back the bile in my throat when an even deeper groan sounded from down the hall.

"Okay… Well, I just wanted to tell you that we're leaving. I've decided not to spend the night. Ben is going to take me home."

"Oh. Maybe I should just go with you then. It sounds like Alice is a little preoccupied anyway," Bella suggested. She wanted to leave? Suddenly I didn't care nearly as much about what Alice was doing.

"Actually, I was going to stay with Ben at his house. His parents are way more understanding than mine, and my parents already think that I'm going to be here all night, so we thought we'd take advantage."

"Oh! In that case you should go. Have fun. You two deserve a night alone," Bella enthused.

"Are you sure? I mean, Ben will understand if you want to come back to my place instead. I don't want you to be uncomfortable here." I snorted at that, certain that Ben would in fact _not _be fine about his plans with his girlfriend being thwarted at the last minute. Bella quirked an eyebrow at my outburst, but tried to pacify Angela.

"It's fine. Go be with your boyfriend. I'm sure the Cullens have a spare bedroom I can stay in."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that Em and Rose already claimed the spare room," Angela said warily.

"Oh, well I'll just sleep on the couch or something. No big deal."

"Bella can sleep in my bed. I'll take the couch. Problem solved," I offered.

"If you're sure?" We both nodded in agreement. "Okay, then. Night, guys." We stood together and watched Angela walk quietly back down the stairs.

"I guess I should show you to my room," I said breaking the silence. Bella followed wordlessly behind me as I led her into my room. To sleep. In my bed. Suddenly my concerns about my sister were long forgotten as my heart began to thunder double time in my chest.

"So this is my room," I said, swallowing hard and running a shaky hand through my hair.

I watched in awe as my girl took in my most personal belongings. She slowly walked around picking up small trinkets, her fingers ghosting over my various baseball trophies and picture frames. She would pause every few seconds to read something or look at a picture more closely. When she came across an old black and white photograph of my grandparents she picked it up and turned to me, her eyes alight with interest. She glanced back and forth between me and the picture.

"You look just like him," she finally commented.

"Mmm, that's my grandpa, Laurent Evenson, my mom's dad. He passed away about two years ago. My mom says I look just like him. I never used to see it, but the older I get the more obvious it is."

She nodded, "He's very handsome." I smiled at her observation. "This is the grandpa that called your grandma _mon petit chou_?"

"That's him."

She delicately placed the picture back down on my dresser and resumed her perusal. I can't describe how amazing it felt to watch her smile appreciatively at the many sentimental mementos that catalogued my life. My heart rate quickened as she made her way over to my bed, her fingertips sliding across the soft brushed cotton of my charcoal gray comforter.

She came to stop at my nightstand, the corner of her mouth turned up in a soft smile as she picked up the single photograph that was lying propped up against my lamp. I hadn't had a chance to put it in a frame yet, but I kept it out where I could see it every morning when I woke up and every night before I fell asleep.

"Did Ben take this?" she asked, flashing the candid snapshot of the two of us at me. We were sitting together at one of the work tables in our journalism classroom. I was talking animatedly about something, and Bella was listening quietly with the most adoring smile.

"Yeah. He gave it to me last week." He had wordlessly dropped it on my desk on a day that I was feeling particularly pessimistic about the prospect of anything romantic ever developing with Bella. She was so hard for me to read sometimes, and I wasn't sure that any of my attempts were actually getting through to her. But then he had given me this picture and I just knew. Her feelings were evident in her tender smile. That photograph gave me the reassurance I needed to keep on waiting for her.

"Hmm. I'm gonna have to ask him for a copy."

"I'm sure he would be happy to make you one."

"This is a big bed," she commented suddenly, catching me off guard with her train of thought.

"Uh, yeah. It's a king."

"A king? I thought king size beds were for married couples that needed to sprawl out away from each other?"

"Well, I do sprawl, and I'm a little on the tall side if you haven't noticed."

"Yeah, I guess so. You probably wouldn't be very comfortable in my little twin then." The hint of flirtation in her tone was driving me even wilder than her actual words.

"Oh, I'm sure I would manage just fine in your bed," I teased. Like clockwork my beautiful girl's cheeks flushed a deep crimson.

"So… Since Alice is holding your bag hostage in the den of sin, do you need something more comfortable to sleep in?" I asked, gesturing to her silk tank top and denim skirt.

"Uh, yeah. That would be really great actually."

I rummaged through my dresser for a newer pair of boxers and a plain white undershirt. I turned to hand them to her, to find her studying me carefully.

"Thanks. Are you okay, Edward? About Alice I mean?"

"Uh, yeah… I guess. I'm just worried that she's repeating history, rushing into things. I don't want her to get hurt. I can't handle seeing her like that again."

"She's been hurt before?"

"Yeah, her boyfriend back in Minnesota, Peter. He broke up with her right after they became… intimate. You'll have to ask her the details. She won't talk to me about it."

"Well, for what it's worth, this is definitely the longest Jasper has ever waited to sleep with a girl, and I think he really cares about her."

"I hope you're right."

She rose up on her tiptoes and placed a sweet kiss on my jaw whispering, "Me too."

"I'm just going to get changed," she said, holding up the sleep clothes.

"There's a new toothbrush in the top drawer that you're welcome to use."

"Thanks." With that she disappeared into my bathroom.

I took a moment to quickly change into my own pair of boxers and a clean shirt to sleep in. I was just grabbing a pillow off of my bed, when Bella reemerged. She looked adorable swimming in my oversized clothes.

"You're leaving?" she asked, staring daggers at the pillow in my arms.

"I'll just be down the hall. I'm going to crash on the couch in the study."

"I don't really feel right about kicking you out of your own bed," she said, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

"Don't be ridiculous. I wouldn't have it any other way. Do you need anything else before you go to sleep?" I asked, walking over to give her a goodnight kiss.

"Just you. Please don't leave. You have a huge bed… Stay with me." To say I was stunned would have been a gross understatement.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, but just to sleep."

"Just to sleep," I agreed.

I couldn't contain my grin as kissed her smiling lips. "I'm just going to run downstairs and make sure the house is locked up. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable. I'll be right back."

"'Kay."

After flipping off some lights and arming the alarm, I headed back to my room. I closed the door behind me, taking in the sight of Bella sitting up against the headboard of my bed. I switched off the light and crawled in next to her, lying flat on my back. She scooted down and lay next to me. We weren't touching, but I could feel the energy vibrating off her body along the length of mine. We were both quiet, the sound of our nervous breaths the only noise in the room. After a long moment, Bella spoke quietly into the darkness.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"D-Does it bother you that I'm inexperienced? That I'm a virgin?" I don't know what I was expecting her to ask me, but that definitely wasn't it. I understood her line of thought, though; between the way Lauren had put her on the spot during Truth or Dare and they way everyone else had coupled off for the night, sex seemed like an imminent topic.

"No… No, it doesn't bother me at all," I replied, rolling onto my side to face her. I could just make out her profile in the darkness. I traced a finger over her cheek and she turned into my touch. Her eyes shined brightly into the night.

"Really?"

"Why would it bother me? I think it's amazing." I reached out and pulled her towards me. "It means that no one else has touched you. It means that this is probably the first time that you've ever laid in a bed with a guy. And it means that if anything ever does happen between us, I will get to be your first. So you see, I think it's amazing."

"Thank you. I don't know if you're just trying to make me feel better or if you really feel that way, but thank you."

"Bella…"

"Hmm?"

"I'm a virgin too."

"What?" She sat up suddenly. "How is that even possible?"

"Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Because you're gorgeous! Because you had a sex goddess for a girlfriend! Because I know that you loved her! Take your pick," she burst.

"Tanya was pretty, and I loved her as a lifelong friend, but I was never in love with her. Trust me, it wasn't for lack of her trying, but… I don't know. Maybe it's an old fashioned notion, but I've always thought that the first time that I did that, it would be out of love. So, I guess I've just been waiting to find _the one_."

"God, Edward." Her breath was hot on my face as she leaned in to kiss me. "Every time I think you can't possibly get any sweeter, you go and say something like that. I can't believe that you're my boyfriend. What did I do to deserve you?"

"Please say it again."

"What?"

"The part where you called me your boyfriend."

"My boyfriend." Her arms came around me as she began to kiss with me fervor. "My Edward."

"My Bella," I sighed into her mouth.

I rolled into her, pressing her upper body down into the mattress. My hands were in her hair, on her face, roaming up and down her sides, everywhere I could reach. Her legs crept forward seeking mine, tangling us together as we continued to rain affection on each other with our lips and tongues. As the kiss slowed, I laid back down, pulling her down to lie on my chest.

"We really should get some sleep."

"Mmm… Good night, Edward."

"Good night, _mon petit chou_." I kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair until her breathing evened out indicating sleep. I staved off my own slumber for as long as I could, cherishing the feeling of her warm body cradled against mine. When I finally succumbed to sleep, it was only to dream of the brunette beauty in my arms.

When I awoke it was to a cold empty bed, the glowing numbers on my alarm clock indicating that I had slept well past 11:00 a.m. I got up to use the restroom and clean up before heading downstairs in search of Bella, my sister, and our friends.

I followed the dull murmur of voices into the kitchen, and stopped short in the arched entry way. Alice was perched on Jasper's lap, wearing only his shirt from the day before. I hadn't given any more thought to the physical steps that their relationship had likely taken last night. I was too distracted by Bella and now even more grateful to her for allowing me to stay with her. I doubted I would have been able to sleep knowing what was going on, if I hadn't been consumed with her.

"Morning, Edward," Bella said softly with a shy smile when she spotted me. I focused solely on her as I walked into the kitchen, thankful once again to have a distraction from the otherwise awkward situation. I kissed the top of her head and went to pour myself a cup of coffee.

I pulled out the chair closest to Bella and took a seat. The silence in the room was deafening as I sipped my coffee. Bella reached over and grabbed one of my hands, twining our fingers together and instantly putting me at ease.

I looked up to find Alice staring at me. Jasper on the other hand refused my eye contact. I attempted to smile at my sister, but I'm sure it came out as more of a grimace. Alice took it as a good sign though, and embraced the opportunity to try and make small talk.

"So, Bella tells me that you're going over to her house today?" she started.

"Uh, yeah." Bella squeezed my hand reassuringly.

"You're taking Edward to your house?" Jasper asked, looking up at me for the first time since I entered the room.

"Yep."

"Wow. That's great, Bells. That's really great. I'm happy for you." The pride in his voice struck a chord with me. I suddenly realized that Jasper knew exactly what it was that Bella wanted to tell me, or show me as it were. Bella nodded with a small smile playing on her lips.

"Well, I'm jealous that my brother gets to go to your house before I do," Alice said.

The table slipped back into a slightly less uncomfortable silence. I looked up when I heard Alice quietly whispering. Her mouth was at Jasper's ear, speaking softly to him. He turned and kissed her cheek and mouthed something to her that made me go slack-jawed.

"What did you just say?" I inquired before I could stop myself.

Jasper and Alice's eyes shot to mine immediately, Alice glaring and Jasper smiling.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. It's none of my business," I quickly retracted.

"It's okay. I said that I love her. And I do," Jasper replied, confidently holding my gaze. My eyes flicked to Alice's and she nodded confirmation.

"I love him too. Please be happy for me, Edward."

"You're in love?" She nodded again with a huge smile, and I could see their love plain as day on both of their faces. "Then I'm happy for you. But, that doesn't mean that I want to see or _hear_ you molesting my sister," I said, narrowing my eyes at Jasper.

"Fair enough," he agreed with a smirk, earning a giggle from both of the girls.

"Morning, party people!" Emmett bellowed for the entry way. Rose shushed him as made her way over to the coffee pot.

"Does someone have a hangover?" Alice teased.

"Why the hell are you so chipper? You drank more than I did," Rose grouched.

"I think I burned most of it off last night," Alice giggled.

"La la la la la la!" I hollered, covering my ears. "That's exactly the kind of crap that I do not want to hear."

"Aww, what's wrong, Eddie? No lovin' for you last night? Cuz I could have sworn that was Bella that I saw sneaking out of your room earlier this morning," Emmett taunted.

"That was not what it looked like," I defended, immediately feeling responsible for tarnishing Bella's reputation. I looked at her with wide worried eyes, to find her chuckling along with him.

"He's just teasing, Edward. I already explained to him that nothing happened."

"Yeah, relax, dude. I know Bella's a good girl." The entire table joined in laughing at my expense. When Emmett turned his ribbing onto Jasper and Alice, Bella stood to wash out her coffee cup.

"I'm gonna take a shower in Alice's room. Can you be ready to go in about thirty minutes?" she asked.

"Yeah, sounds good."

Thirty-five minutes later we were climbing up into her beast of a truck and on our way to her house. I hadn't had much time to think through the implications of the trip, but as I sat next to her while she quietly sang along to the radio I grew more and more nervous about what it was that she needed to tell me.

She drove down out of the hills and made a left heading east on Santa Monica Boulevard. She continued following the road as it turned into CA Highway 2. The farther we drove the more anxious I became.

"Is your dad going to be home?" I asked, fishing for what to expect and wondering if she had warned him at all that I would be accompanying her.

"Umm… He's probably working right now, but he should be home soon. I want you to meet him." I bobbed my head in understanding to the same quick beat that my knee was nervously bouncing.

Twenty minutes later we were still on the same freeway. We had driven through Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Hollywood, and other parts of L.A. that I wasn't even familiar with yet.

"Wow. How far away do you live exactly?"

"Sorry. We should be there in about five to ten minutes. I live in Glendale. It's in the Valley," she said, looking ashamed. My own nerves were forgotten as I tried to piece together why she was apologizing.

"The Valley? As in San Fernando Valley?"

"Yep."

"Wow. You drive this every day?"

"Yeah. It's a lot worse in traffic. Takes me about forty minutes to get to school."

"Forty minutes! Why didn't you say something? I can get a ride with Jasper and Alice from now on. There's no way I'm letting you drive any farther out of your way just because I'm a loser without a car."

She shrugged sheepishly, "I like spending time with you."

I reached over the bench seat and grabbed her free hand. "I like spending time with you too."

When Bella finally turned off the main highway the Mercedes and BMWs that were typical of my neighborhood gave way to Hondas and Fords. The five bedroom mansions were replaced with modestly sized homes. Designer stores swapped out for J.C. Penney's and Target.

"What do you think?" Bella asked softly, refusing to meet my eyes as she pulled up in front of an older white house.

"It's nice. Quaint." I said, and it really was.

"Really?" She looked so nervous, and didn't understand why.

"Really… Hey, what's wrong? Why do you look so scared?" I asked, unbuckling my seatbelt and scooting over next to her.

"I'm not from a wealthy family," she whispered. "My dad's a landscaper. We live paycheck to paycheck. I don't come from the same world that you do." Tears welled up in her big brown eyes as she watched me like she thought I was going to bolt.

"Oh, _mon petit chou_, please don't cry," I pled, as I cradled her face in my hands and kissed away her fallen tears. "Is this what you were so worried about? Where you live? How much money your dad makes? Because those things aren't important. I like you for who you are, and who you are amazes me. Now why don't you take me inside and show me around? I want to know _everything_ about you."

xoxo

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**A/N: **Aww, we've made it up to the big reveal. Bella has a lot more to tell Edward, but I'm feeling pretty good about the two of them now. That boy is just too sweet for words. And it seems that these two don't want to keep their lips or hands off of each other now that the flood gates are open. Things are really going to start to heat up. So what did you think? Did you enjoy the mushy turn this chapter took, finally relieving some of the angst? Let me know. Your reviews warm my heart.

Thank you to Hibbleton78 and Holly1980 for your invaluable advice.

I've started a Tumblr to support this story. I'm posting teasers and lots of surfer porn for your viewing pleasure. Come follow me at www(dot)shellwrx(dot)tumblr(dot)com.

**Reviews get teased!**


	12. Song of Myself

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its beautiful characters. This story is loosely based off of plot lines from the original Beverly Hills, 90210 TV series. I have taken many liberties with them. No infringement is intended to any media franchise. The remainder is my original work .

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**Chapter 12  
"Song of Myself"**

"_Who you are amazes me."_

"_I want to know __everything __about you."_

Edward and I were still sitting in the cab of my dilapidated truck parked in front of my house. I stared at him slack-jawed, feeling a little awkward and unsure about how to accept and respond to his romantic declaration. I tried and failed to come up with a coherent reply while I replayed his words over and over in my head.

He had to know that he was the one that was amazing, not me. How I'd managed to even catch his attention to begin with still confounded me. Yet, somehow he had been able to pinpoint and dismiss all of my underlying fears before I'd even been able to give voice to them.

He gazed at me with smiling emerald eyes as he continued to soothe and reassure me. I took a moment to appreciate the way his bronze hair glistened in the early afternoon sunlight streaming through the passenger side window. He had never been more handsome to me than he was at that very moment. Edward was truly beautiful on the both the inside and out. So kind and accepting.

After he tenderly dried my traitorous tears, he pressed his lips to mine in a slow, gentle whisper of a kiss that conveyed comfort, warmth, and understanding.

I had yet to speak, make a move, or even so much as blink when the passenger side door suddenly opened and Edward slid off the worn, leather bench seat. He was around my truck and helping me out of my own seatbelt quicker than I could process what was happening.

He smiled his signature crooked smile that never failed to melt me into an unintelligible pile of goo as he helped me out of the truck.

My body slid sensuously against his as he lowered me down to the ground. I was acutely aware of the feeling of his hands on my hips, my waist, under my arms and subtly brushing against the sides of my breasts. When he had me steadied on my feet, he reached around to shove the creaky truck door shut with a resounding bang that seemed to be the catalyst needed to finally snap me from my stupor.

I blinked at him and then blushed when I realized just how carefully he had been watching me, as if I were a timid animal that he didn't want to frighten away.

"There you are," he whispered as he took a step forward, pinning me against the cab of my truck and softly brushing my hair away from my face and back behind my shoulder. "Now, are you going to show me that twin bed of yours or what?"

My heart rate quickened and my breath caught, my body reacting involuntarily to both his proximity and the teasing innuendo. One of his legs wedged between mine as he leaned into me, causing sensations that I had never before experienced to course through my entire being. And god did his thigh feel muscular. How had I not noticed that before?

His breath was hot on my ear as he pulled me from my anxious and insecure thoughts of inadequacy with feather light kisses to my neck. He knew exactly what he was doing.

"You're distracting me," I stated, earning an abrupt chuckle from Edward before he returned to his previous ministration.

"Mmm, well sounds about fair. You always distract me, _mon petit chou_." His fingertips ghosted up and down my sides causing me to tremble under his touch as he continued, "With your pretty smile, your big brown eyes, your long gorgeous hair, and these perfect pink lips." Before I could refute his ridiculous flattery his mouth was on mine once again, swallowing up my rebuttal. Not that I minded.

I didn't think I would ever tire of kissing him. I wanted to do it every minute of every day for the rest of forever.

"Are you trying to seduce me?" I attempted to ask coyly against his supple lips, though I think it came out sounding like a plea for more.

He pulled back with a victorious grin, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

"Well, that depends… Are you seducible, Bella?"

I shook my head no while simultaneously biting my lip to keep from yelling yes, because when it came to Edward I wasn't so sure that I had _any_ boundaries. But I didn't think it would be very prudent of me to let him know that just yet.

He chuckled at the obviously indecisive expression on my face but let me off the hook with a simple, "Didn't think so."

I led him up to the small front porch where the relaxed mood he had created between us quickly wore off. I fished my keys from my bag and nervously fidgeted while I battled with the door to get it open.

I ushered him in first, toed off my flip flops, and dropped my overnight bag in the hall while I watched him take in his surroundings.

It was really quite absurd that I was so uneasy about showing him my home when I had spent the entire night wrapped up in his arms in a rather intimate embrace. I'd had absolutely no qualms about sleeping next to him, but being alone with him in my own space felt far more private. There would be no more secrets, no more walls to hide behind after today.

I took a deep steeling breath and forced myself to woman up and take the lead. We were at my house, after all; Edward shouldn't have to give himself the tour. I walked over to where he was glancing around the small living room and confidently took his hand in mine.

"So this is home," I said, gesturing around the room. "I've lived here my entire life."

"It's nice," he complimented.

"Thanks. Do you want a tour?"

"Of course. Lead the way."

"Well, this is the living room, obviously. My dad finally bought himself that flat screen on Black Friday last year. He'd been wanting one for years." I giggled at the memory. My dad had fussed and griped the entire time that we had waited in line at Best Buy to score the hot deal.

"A man can't properly enjoy a good baseball game without a flat screen," Edward sympathized.

"He said the same thing," I laughed as I tugged his hand and pulled him behind me towards the kitchen.

"The kitchen is my space. My dad's only allowed in here to make coffee in the morning. He burns _everything_."

"Hmm... So you can cook?" he asked, releasing my hand in favor of pulling me fully into his arms.

"Yep."

"Wow. Sounds like I have myself a real winner here. She has brains, beauty, _and_ she cooks." My cheeks burned hot at his smooth talk. I wouldn't be able to contain my ego if he kept this up. "You know they say the way into a man's heart is through his stomach."

"Are you saying I need to bribe my way into your heart?" I asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Hardly." I couldn't fight back the victorious grin from his simple yet very serious answer.

"So, what's your favorite dish?"

"Well, I'm a growing boy so I'm pretty much happy with meat—any meat really—but I am a sucker for a good cheesecake. And cookies—peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies."

"Sounds like someone has a sweet tooth," I teased. "You just may be in luck. I happen to make an excellent cheesecake. It's one of my dad's favorites too. And I've never made the cookies, but I'm sure I can manage." The excited boyish expression on his face made me laugh.

"Mmm… My girl's going to make me sweet treats," he said in a silly voice as he started playfully nuzzling my neck.

I pulled away giggling shamelessly and tugged on his arm, "Come on. I want to show you my favorite part of this house."

"Your room?" he inquired with bright, mischievous eyes and a wiggle of brow.

"Nope!" He pushed his bottom lip out into a full pout and batted his obscenely long eyelashes at me, making it increasingly difficult to resist his charms. "Come on, you perv. This is even better. I promise."

He continued to mock pout, but followed after me without question as I led him through the sliding glass doors off the kitchen and out to the backyard.

"Wow. This is just…" he started, his mouth gaping as he took his surroundings.

"My dad," I answered simply.

"It's amazing. You would never guess that this was all out here."

I tried not to feel hurt by his words. I understood what he meant. We lived in a modest neighborhood in a small two bedroom home. No one would ever presume that this oasis existed just beyond the old redwood fence.

I guided Edward down the multicolored flagstone path that led to a small bench tucked underneath a wooden trellis. Bright blue morning glories climbed up the sides and cascaded over the top creating a fragrant canopy of shade. We sat side by side in the comfort of my happy place.

"My dad has been working on this yard for as long as I can remember. You would think that he'd hate to do any gardening or landscaping of any kind since it's what he does all day for a living, but I think it brings him peace. I come out here a lot to read and just… _be_."

"I can see why. It's beautiful out here."

My head fell naturally against his shoulder, and I delighted in the sweet smile I caught gracing his face out of the corner of my eye.

We sat quietly for a few minutes, Edward taking in the surrounding foliage and the lush gardens while I absorbed the warmth of the sunshine on my bare feet and the feeling of utter completion that his presence next to me in this sanctuary brought.

"My mom left when I was five, the day before I started kindergarten," I began turning to face him fully. Of course, I had already given him the abbreviated version but it was time for him to have the whole truth. He'd said that he wanted to know everything about me, and I finally realized that I really wanted that too.

Edward pulled my feet up into his lap, covering them both with a single warm hand and angled his body towards mine. His expression was soft but curious. It was the only reassurance that I needed to go on. I leaned forward hugging my knees to my chest and began to tell him my story.

"My mom, Renee, decided that she didn't want to be a mom anymore and that she was too good to be married to a lowly landscaper. She up and left us, relinquishing all of her parental rights to my dad. He was completely heartbroken by it. I could tell, even as a child." I paused as I considered giving voice to something I never had before. "He won't admit it to me, but I think she was probably cheating on him long before she ever left."

My tone hardened as I continued, "Anyway, she ran off with some sugar daddy—a loaded guy in Bel Air—who paid her way and showered her with expensive gifts. She's been with at least four different guys since then." I scoffed and then added, "That I know of anyway."

I sighed as I pondered all of the ways she had hurt my dad… and me. "I hardly ever hear from her. I get a birthday card or the occasional post card from some exotic location. She calls once or twice a year, but it's only to gloat about how much better her life is than ours. She's with some baseball player now, Phil Dwyer. He's a total asshole. Not that I even care. She hasn't been a mom to me in a long time. But I hate the way she throws it all in my dad's face. He just deserves better, ya know?"

Edward softly stroked the tops of my feet with one hand while he slicked the other down the length of my hair.

"I'm so sorry, Bella. I don't know what to say. I can't even imagine why _anyone_ wouldn't want to have you in their life, let alone your mom."

"It's okay. It's been just my dad and me for so long, that I've all but forgotten what it was even like to have her around. I look like her. I know it bothers my dad sometimes that he can see so much of her in me. I just don't want to end up like her."

"That's _not_ gonna happen, Bella. You're too good, too sweet. It's not even possible. And I'm sure your dad is great guy. I mean, he raised you so he has to be. I'm sure he loves you for you, and not because of some inconsequential traits from your mom."

"I'm afraid if people find out where I'm from that they'll think I'm like her. That I'm a gold digger too." I spat the words.

"You mean if people find out that you're not from Beverly Hills?"

"Well, yeah." I shrugged.

"Where you're from doesn't make you who you are, Bella. Choices do. And you choose to be a good person. You choose to work hard to succeed. Your address doesn't matter. Not to me and not to anyone that really cares."

"You really mean that?"

"Of course. Do you think that I'm some sort of yuppie snob just because my zip code is 90210?"

"No! I could never think that about you."

"Well there ya go," he smirked as he turned the tables on me.

"Okay, I get your point."

"Do you?" His hand that was still unconsciously stroking my hair wrapped around the back of my neck as he leaned forward, bringing his forehead to rest against mine. "Bella, I hope you know that you can trust me. I really care about you. I _like_ you… a lot."

"I do trust you, and I like you too. A lot. A whole lot."

His lips turned up into a sweet, shy smile that warmed my heart. A little part of me imagined what it might be like to hear him say another important L-word to me. I squashed that line of thinking as quickly as it started, reminding myself that we hadn't even been together for a full 24 hours yet. But the intense look Edward was giving me made me wonder if perhaps he was considering the same thing.

Instead of saying anything further, he pressed a soft kiss to my lips and then another to my forehead as he sat back.

"I'm glad we got that cleared up," he said with a grin. "So… not that I'm complaining, because I'm definitely not, but how did you end up at West Beverly? It seems kind of out of the way for you."

"Well, because it's a good school, has good funding, and mostly because of _The Blaze_." I shrugged as rattled off my answers. "Plus Jasper seemed to really like it there, and USC reserves a certain number of spots for West Beverly alumni. I really want to go to USC. It's all I've ever wanted."

"Yeah, you've made that very clear," he smirked. "Hmm… I guess I should be looking into becoming a Trojan too then?"

"What? No!" His gorgeous smile abruptly fell from his perfectly sculpted face, and I immediately wanted to take back what I'd said. "I mean, unless that's what you want. But you shouldn't change your plans because of me. You could probably get into some fancy private school or Ivy League." When he didn't say anything in return, I added a quiet, 'sorry,' feeling like a jerk for ruining our moment.

"It's okay. I was just teasing anyway." His words were light and dismissive, but his tone was unmistakably hurt.

"Edward…"

"So you knew Jasper before?" he asked, cutting me off and effectively changing the subject.

"What?"

"You said that Jasper seemed to like it at West Bev."

"Oh. Umm, yeah. He used to live in the house behind us," I said, pointing towards the back fence. "We went to grade school and junior high together when he lived with his mom. We were really close friends. He used to stay with me and hang out after school every day. His dad was out of the picture at the time and his mom was kind of worthless. My dad more or less raised us both. Jasper's mom was arrested at the end of our eighth grade year, and he was sent to live with his dad at the beach house. He ended up at West Beverly and I ended up at Walsh High School. Alone. I hated it."

"So your dad let you transfer to be with Jasper? That far?" Though he tried to conceal it, the jealousy in his voice was easy to detect.

"Not exactly. I had to do my research. I found out that West Beverly had an award winning school paper and accredited journalism program, and I won him over with that. Plus he knew how much I hated Walsh. It had metal detectors, the teachers didn't care, it was just bad. But in the end the transfer request was denied." Edward's eyes widened in concern. "By that time my dad was already gung ho on getting me into the school I wanted—that he thought I deserved. Plus, he's always had a bit of soft spot for Jasper. Anyway, he somehow convinced my grandma, my mom's mom, to let me use her address to attend West Beverly. She lives in an assisted living community near school. She was okay with it so long as she didn't have to do anything. And it's worked out… so far."

"That's good."

"You can't tell anyone."

"I won't. Promise."

"It's just, if someone were to find out that I'm not exactly a legal transfer I could get kicked out. It could ruin everything for me... The Blaze, USC, my friends… _you_."

"Well we can't have that," he said with a disarming smile. "You're secret's safe with me, _mon petit chou_, but I do think you can trust our friends. Everyone loves you. None of us wants to see anything happen to you." I blushed at his collect use of the word 'love,' a little wishful that he meant more by it than I knew he did.

"Maybe…"

"If Jasper knows, you at _least_ have to tell Alice. She'll kill us if she finds out that both he and I know and she doesn't. You're one of the closest friends she's had in a long time. She really looks up to you."

"Well if I tell Alice, I might as well tell Rose too. She can't be the only girl in the group that doesn't know." When Edward's eyebrows crinkled in confusion I clarified, "Angela knows, of course, and I'm sure she's told Ben. Not that he would ever say anything. Then I might as well tell Emmett too, because how rude would it be for him to be the only one out of the loop. That's a lot of people, Edward. I'm just not sure."

He chuckled as I got myself more and more flustered. "Relax. Just think about it. You don't have to tell anyone if you don't want to. I promise I won't say a word. We'll just have to be creative about how I spend any time at your house. You know Alice will catch on."

"Oh, I'm sure Jasper can keep her distracted for us." Edward visibly cringed at my implied meaning, and I giggled at his discomfort. He tickled me in retaliation and gave me a sweet peck on the cheek.

We eased into lighter conversation, spending the next hour or so enjoying the warm afternoon sun on our faces while we chatted about anything and everything. Edward and I had developed such a close and comfortable relationship over the past month or so. A little part of me was worried that when we finally got to this point that everything would change between us, but it hadn't. Or maybe it had, but in a good way.

I relished his every touch on my skin, the feel of his strong hands holding mine, and thrilled at the thought that I could now kiss him whenever I wanted. And he seemed to really like that part too.

A while later we had finally made it to the 'holy land' as Edward called it, or my bedroom as it was more commonly referred to. I sat on the bed quite amused and watched as Edward busied himself fiddling with my things and scrutinizing every picture and token I'd accrued throughout my lifetime. He was much more animated and inquisitive about being in my room for the first time than I was with him the night before. Apparently, this was a big deal to him—a very big deal.

I laughed as he set down the ridiculous Sadie Hawkins picture of Jasper and me wearing matching t-shirts from 7th grade, scoffing as I once again reminded him that nothing had ever happened between the two of us.

His fingers dragged over a nondescript manila folder lying haphazardly on my desk. He almost passed it by, but must have noticed the telltale blue lines of the crinkled piece of college ruled notebook paper peeking out with familiar handwriting.

"Passing notes, Miss Swan?" he teased with a quirked eyebrow.

He kept his eyes on me as he picked up the folder and casually flipped it open. "What other goodies have you got in here?" he asked, obviously trying to get a reaction from me. I said nothing, biting my lip to contain my nervous grin.

He began to thumb through the compilation of notes and letters. The mischievous glint in his eye led me to believe he was hoping to strike gold and find something from another of my friends or perhaps maybe some scribbling of his name in a heart. But his expression quickly changed into something softer with an underlining intensity that I couldn't quite pinpoint. "These all from me?" he asked, though more to himself. "You kept them? All of them?"

Taking a seat next to me on the bed he started reading through his own notes and letters to me. Every single one that I had received from him was stashed in that folder, all the way back to our first silly note in French class so long ago.

I reached over and snatched said note from him. I couldn't contain my smile as I recalled the day with absolute clarity. He had made some comment about how he liked it when I wore my hair down. It had been thrilling, flattering, and embarrassing all at the same time. Then when class started he'd turned to pass back a handout to the girl behind him, Maria I think, and she'd winked at him. He'd looked flustered and I couldn't resist teasing him a little. Of course he'd called me out on it.

My thumb ghosted over the word _'Jealous?'_ in his beautiful script. And then my eyes shot down to the bottom of the page. The last thing he had written was '_You distract me by simply breathing.' _I suddenly recalled him saying something similar to me earlier today. Reading the words had been one thing, but hearing them…

I was abruptly overcome by the need to be close to him. Overwhelmed by affection for him.

We sat facing each other on the bed and suddenly all I could focus on were his lips. I wanted to tackle him down onto the mattress and kiss him until we were both breathless, but I felt inexplicably shy about initiating contact.

Somehow, by the grace of God, Edward must have read my thoughts because his body gravitated towards me until he was only a breath away. My hand caressed his cheek, detecting a hint of scruff that made it difficult to distinguish if he was truly a boy or a man.

"Kiss me," I whispered.

His lips met mine with a quiet passion and grace. Our soft, lingering kisses quickly became something more as Edward nibbled on my bottom lip and my tongue sought the warmth of his mouth.

We shifted on the bed, our bodies aligning in the most perfect way. My hands trailed down his back and up under his shirt with a newfound confidence that I didn't know I possessed.

God, he felt so good, smooth and unyielding under my fingertips.

I pulled his hips towards mine, seeking relief from the maddening tingles that his every touch was producing. His throaty groan made me feel like a wild woman who would stop at nothing to get what she desired. I wanted—no needed—him closer and closer still.

I felt his arousal pressing into me, making me feel equal parts of nervous and excited, maybe even a little proud. I shoved the nerves away and pulled back from our kiss just enough to look him in the eyes.

My legs spread, allowing him to slide easily between them. His eyes were heavy lidded with lust and his lips parted in awe as he slowly thrust against me giving us both the friction we desired right where we needed it. I heard a deep moan erupt around us and I wasn't even sure if it came from me, him, or both of us.

"My god, Bella."

He captured my mouth in another searing kiss as he continued to move on top of me, bringing us both to the brink of something divine. I writhed under him, wanting to get _there_ and bring him with me—wherever there was.

"Edward."

Just as I felt something deep within me begin to tighten with anticipation and Edward's pace had become hurried and uncontrolled, I heard the unmistakable sound of the front door opening.

"Bells, I'm home," My dad called out from the entry.

My heart lodged in my throat at the sound of his voice, and I watched all of the blood drain from Edward's face. Before I could even react to the interruption, he had already launched himself off of the bed and was frantically trying to straighten out his clothes. I stood and hopelessly attempted to smooth out my hair knowing that it must look like a wreck.

"Bells…" I heard my dad shout out again.

I looked over at Edward who was staring back at me wide-eyed with his hands clasped too innocently in front of him, his cheeks shining pink from our activities. I knew it would be more suspicious if I remained quiet so I yelled back, "In here, Dad."

I somewhat forcefully shoved Edward over towards my desk and whispered, "sit," just as my dad appeared in the doorway. If I hadn't been so nervous about being caught making out with a boy for the first time, his expression would have been comical.

"Oh… Hey. I didn't realize you had company," my dad said, announcing his presence, his voice quickly taking on a firm fatherly tone as he processed the situation.

His eyes flicked from me, to where Edward was sitting looking guilty as sin, to my bed, and back to me. I refused to let my eyes drift to the bed, knowing how disheveled it must look and that I wouldn't be able to conceal my shame from my dad.

"Yeah… Um, Dad, this is Edward Cullen. Edward, this is my dad, Charlie." I watched Edward's Adam's apple bob as he swallowed hard and stood to shake my dad's hand.

"I-It's very nice to finally meet you, sir… Mr. Swan," Edward greeted respectfully. My dad huffed in response.

"Edward, huh? Is this the same Edward that you were bawling your eyes out over while back?"

"Dad!" I chastised, mortified by his comment.

"Well is he?" he persisted.

"Yes," I replied in harsh whisper, feeling my cheeks flush in humiliation.

Edward no longer looked nervous; he looked rueful as he redirected his attention from my dad back to me. His eyes communicated heartfelt remorse and apologies as he held my gaze. I couldn't handle it.

I leveled my dad with a cold glare, trying to communicate that it was not cool to out me in front of the first boy I had ever brought home. My dad remained unrepentant, dishing back the same glare towards Edward.

"Be nice," I squeaked.

I grabbed Edward's hand in reassurance and turned to my dad. "Edward and I are together now. He's my uh… my boyfriend." I swallowed hard, the words sounding too good to be true coming from my mouth.

"A boyfriend, huh? Well he better not make you cry again." He gave Edward a pointed look, and then turned on his heel and stomped out of the room. I blinked after him. My dad and I rarely had any disagreements, but I was not pleased with how he had treated Edward at all.

"I'm not sure you two should be hanging out alone in your bedroom," Dad called down the hall a moment later.

I squeezed Edward's hand, too embarrassed to meet his sympathetic eyes, and tugged him towards my bedroom door. "Come on, we should probably go before I upset him anymore."

"Bella?" His broken voice stopped me in my tracks. "I'm s—" I pressed my finger to his lips.

"Please, don't." He pleaded with his eyes to apologize once again, but I was over the past. It had been one misunderstanding after another. I just wanted to move forward—together. He nodded and kissed my finger, bringing his hand up to cover it and hold it there.

"I don't deserve you."

"Nonsense. You already have me."

We joined my scowling dad in the living room. I dug through the fridge and brought him a beer to soften his mood. I handed Edward a Diet Sunkist with a shameless shrug. I guess I would have to start stocking Coke in the house too.

"So, Daddy, how was your day?" I asked in my overly cheerful daddy's girl voice. Edward snorted at my antics and then tried to cover it with a cough.

"Ah, it was alright I guess. Dodgers are playing the Giants tonight, so that ought to be interesting." I smiled at the quick transition to baseball. My dad had been spitting nails since all this drama and fan violence had broken out between the two California based teams.

"They're playing in San Francisco today, right?" Edward chimed in.

My dad did a double take and his lips twitched upward involuntarily as he realized he may have another baseball buddy.

"Uh, yeah. They're in Frisco."

I quietly slid into the background as my dad and Edward got lost in a world of stats and heavily stated opinions. You would think they managed the teams the way they were talking.

"You play?"

"Yep. Second base," Edward smirked.

"I'll be damned. I played second base in school too," my dad announced proudly.

"Really?"

And just like that, Charlie fell for Edward too.

Okay, maybe not. But they were definitely getting along, and that brought a content grin to my face.

I called Angela the moment I got home from dropping off Edward later that evening. I touched a cool hand to my cheeks, which were beginning to ache from my incessant smiling, while I listened to the line ringing.

"You slept with him?" was my unexpected greeting from my best friend. Her tone somehow managed to sound both accusing and shocked at the same time.

"Hello to you too," I quipped back.

"Yeah, yeah. Hello," she grumbled. "_What happened?_ I talked to Alice and she said that you slept with her brother last night and that the two of you emerged looking very rumpled. She even texted me a picture of you all wrapped up in each other."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! When did you start talking like a gossip columnist? And yes I slept with him but _not_ in the way that you're thinking. We shared his bed, with clothes on mind you. It was not some illicit affair. Not that I'm sure I would have minded..." I paused for a moment as I recalled the last thing that she said. "Wait. What picture?"

My phone chimed with an incoming message and I opened it to find a picture of Edward and me cuddled up together in his bed. We both had peaceful smiles on our faces as we slumbered, oblivious to the sneaky person who snapped the shot of us.

"Alice sent this to you?"

"Yep."

"How did she get this? I distinctly remember him locking the door last night."

"Who knows? She's Alice."

"Huh."

"It's cute though, right? You two look so sweet together," Angela gushed.

"Aww!"

We spent the next hour blathering about every detail of the past 24 hours. Angela told me all about her night with Ben too. Not over sharing, but spilling enough to make me insane with jealousy for that level of intimacy. Maybe someday soon I thought as my lust filled mind began to wander with the possibilities.

My phone chimed again, alerting me of a new text message. I gasped in excitement and read Edward's message aloud to Angela.

_I miss you already, mon petit chou._

And a second later…

_Rêves doux – sweet dreams._

That was the first night that I woke up panting while dreaming of Edward Cullen.

xoxo

* * *

A/N: Click that little review button and let me know what you thought! Pretty, pretty please! *bats eyelashes*

Big, ginormous thank you to everyone reading this story. It warms my heart to share this with you. You all continue to overwhelm me with your enthusiasm and sweet words. Truly, thank you. I would give you each a big smooshy bear hug if I could.

Thank you to Hibbleton78 and Holly1980 for just... everything!

I have some news...

First, I will be contributing a o/s to Fandom4Tsunami. It's titled "Shaken." It follows Bella, a university art student, as a devastating earthquake hits San Francisco. I've put a ton of thought into this. It's gonna be a little angsy, not gonna lie, but it will also be very heartfelt. I'm stretching my wings and really trying some new things with this tale, so I hope you'll check it out. Visit their blog for information on how to donate to the Red Cross and receive the compilation. This is a cause very dear to my heart. I have coworkers, suppliers and friends in Japan. The need there is great. fandomfightstsunami(dot)blogspot(dot)com

Second, I've become a guest reviewer for a new Edward/Bella shipper blog Pretty in Fic. I wrote my first review for my girl Holly's fic, "The Sovereign Six." This was one of the first fics I read when I joined the fandom. It's sweet, angsty, funny-has it all really. Check out the blog and my review at prettyinfic(dot)blogspot(dot)com and on Twitter PrettyinFic. They're looking for more people to write reviews or just rec your favorite E/B fics.

xo, Shell


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